Furuichi's Demonic Adventure
by WDO345
Summary: With the escalating situation in Hell and the unknown situation in Japan, the 34th Pillar Squad has their hands tied and are unable to move out. But there is a single member who, one way or another, would be more than enough to help them now. Read and Review pls.
1. Chapter 1

Furuichi felt his body shiver as he stared at the Ishiyama school again; the tall dirty building and the broken off sections of walls and windows. For most of the students there, it was home, and maybe a safe haven, but for Furuichi it was a place where dumb apes and animals scurry about. This realisation, dawned after only a year in the place already, was only spurred on when just shy of two seconds from entering the place, a gang fight had already occurred right outside the main building.

The white-haired teen couldn't help but cry inside as he watched the two big apes break bones and smash faces in. He would have cried, honestly, if he hadn't seen the Red Tails, the beautiful young women gang of Ishiyama, strolling into the school.

"Oomori!" He cried happily as he immediately moved towards her. The young redheaded woman, with a rocking body that Furuichi couldn't help but comment on, turned to him and sweatdropped. He could see her eyes narrow tightly as she sped up her gait. Worthy of the name Creepichi, Furuichi quickly rushed behind her, hands behind him at the speed he walked in. But the redheaded woman was faster and he couldn't keep up entirely.

"Oh! Tanimura!" Furuichi greeted as he stepped up to the side of Chiaki Tanimura, another member of the Red Tails Femme Fatale. The white-haired hot-blooded teenage boy was rather disappointed though when he noticed that her, while her stature was short, her beautiful milky white legs were covered up due to the winter cold. _Damn weather seasons._

Chiaki turned to him, her eyes as blank as they always have been, and greeted him. "Trash." Furuichi felt a sharp stab in his heart, his smile faltering as he tried to maintain his pleasant expression. But inside his Tsukkomi screamed, _You're still going on about that._

"W-what Tanimura, surely you don't still see me like that right? Right?! I'm Oga's #2! DOES THIS POSITION REALLY GIVE ME NO PRESTIGE?" Tanimura stared at him, then slapped a hand to her lips to feign laughter. Furuichi's eyes bulged, "What is that? What is with that reaction?! Is that really my reputation even now?!"

Tanimura didn't reply and instead turned back to Nene and zoomed past him and a pace faster than Furuichi could keep up with. The young man with slight perversion, because really he still at least understood boundaries (to a certain extent), watched the Red Tails disappear past him with their faces blank and sweat rolling off their shoulders.

"Ah...oh well," he muttered to himself. If he wasn't mistaken Oga had already arrived to school earlier and there was no doubt that Hilda was somewhere out and about watching him. The thought of beautiful Hilda somewhere here made him get a spring in his step, even if his fantasies were vastly different from real life.

He stepped two steps forward, then felt two familiar burly arms encircle him. At first he wondered if he should bring out his demonic tissues, since ever since the fight with Satan the effects of the tissues diminished somewhat with the contracts he signed, but thought better of it. Jabberwock was still pretty pissed at him the first time he summoned him accidentally to smack Alandelion away.

"What is this?!" He yelled instinctively before he felt the familiar(damn that word!) sensation of entering Alandelion (damn that even more!).

"Don't worry Takayuki-dono, you can rest easy that I would do nothing to you without your permission!" Alandelion whispered into his air.

"DON'T WHISPER SOMETHING LIKE THAT TO MY EAR YOU OLD MAN!" Furuichi yelled in desperation as he struggled again the old man's tight grip. His vision was ensnared in a bright blinding light before he was encompassed by the sides of the old man.

It was a brief moment later, much like the slow gait of a smack, before he was tossed onto the ground of where he had visited a few odd months ago. "Huh? I'm back at the castle?!" Furuichi exclaimed as he stared at the large gate. Alandelion stood stoically next to him, hands to his side as he bowed in respect to he woman standing serenely at the front of the gate.

"Furuichi-dono, thank you for accepting our call so soon," Laymia, the mother of Lamia and a member of the 84th Pillar Division, bowed her head in greeting to Furuichi.

Whatever qualms Furuichi had in the matter of Alandelion's sudden appearance was washed away at the sight of the beautiful Laymia standing before him. Thought a part of him was rather obstinate at ogling the mother of Lamia, the greater whole of him had overridden the small voice for the desire to appreciate the body of a young gorgeous woman.

"Oh, Furuichi-dono, you are still learning I see. It's a shame, Laymia's coat makes it difficult for me to see the object of my own desire," Dr Forcas, the self-proclaimed 'Man who loves ass more than tits', walked up to greet Furuichi. Both of them grasp hands in brotherly camaraderie, their perversion having long since developed their friendship as men of desire. If anything else, Furuichi was glad that there was somebody else that shared in his thoughts, and wouldn't give him the nickname of Creepichi.

"Oh Dr Forcas! And Laymia-san! I had no idea you were the ones who called for me. I thought it was Alandelion disturbing me again!" Furuichi said as he scratched the back of his had in embarrassment.

"Hmph! How rude Takayuki-dono, I would never disturb you in such a way," Alandelion muttered as he glanced away.

"Like hell you do!" Furuichi's Tsukkomi side yelled, "And what is that reaction?! Are you a tsundere from a shounen manga?! Die! Seriously die you old man!"

In reaction Alandelion grabbed his face with his hands and blushed, "Please stop Takayuki-dono, I alone truly understand your feelings."

"JUST DIE ALREADY!" Before anymore could be said Furuichi felt a rough tug at his collar and he was unceremoniously dragged away by Dr Forcas.

"Sorry kid but your comic relief isn't really needed right now. Laymia has already continued on into the castle without us." Furuichi sweat dropped as he was unable to stand up to his feet and had to endure being hastily dragged up the stars, where the lesser ranked Pillar soldiers saluted at every turn.

Furuichi knew that ever since he had accepted a contract with all of the Pillar Generals and Barons that he had been elevated to a rank of prestige among the lesser soldiers. Even in school he had already been given the title 'The Man with a Hundred Faces' and he had even once almost destroyed Ishiyama in an Oga-like way due to Jabberwock.

"Good afternoon Lieutenant!" The soldiers greeted. Furuichi sweat dropped at their formal respect.

"Why are they calling me Lieutenant?" Furuichi asked uncomfortably, though he admitted it felt nice having a few mob characters for himself as well.

"I apologise," Laymia said as she slowed down her pace, "Considering your contract with the top Echelons of the Pillar Squads, it was considered to formally induct you into the unit so as to stave off any confusion."

"HUH?! I was inducted into the Pillars?! Is that okay? I'm a human! How is a human so nonchalantly accepted into a demon army!"

"It's quite alright," Laymia said while smiling patiently, "You already have a contract with our current General, so in no ways are you a regular human. As such, it was deemed fit to give you the rank of Lieutenant, so that it wouldn't seem weird to see you among the Barons and Generals, especially when they call upon you to bear their strength in the human world."

"Still! This is an unexpected circumstance, especially for a high school student."

"It's fine," a new voice interrupted. "As a Tactician even you must understand that this would provide the best possible situation for you among the Pillars."

"Hecadoth?!" Furuichi yelled in greeting. It was generally accepted that Hecadoth was among the most frequently called Pillar to Furuichi's side, and the one that was most at use within Furuichi's body. His power fit most with Furuichi, who didn't favor the destructive force of Jabberwock or the dancing agility of Agiel which could be considered cowardly among those of Ishiyama.

"Can you stop shouting Lieutenant?" Hecadoth muttered, smirking in slight bemusement when he noticed Furuichi looking uncomfortable being called by rank. "Be glad, we could have made you a lowly Private that listens to our every beck-and-call."

Furuichi started to sweat at the vicious smile on Hecadoth's face. "Hehe, of course. I am ever grateful."

"However the situation is rather drastic. We wouldn't have called you unless the situation was indeed dire enough to demand the call," Hecadoth said seriously as he went to step next to Laymia.

"What?"

"All will be explained soon, Furuichi-dono, but please for now exercise patience," Laymia suggested. He clamped his mouth shut and nodded, rising to his feet when Dr Focas allowed him to. Looking at Laymia, Furuichi was able to understand the situation well, considering the frown on the familiar face the mother of the young girl that frequented Oga's house.

Speaking of her, "Where is Lamia anyway?" Furuichi asked.

"She's currently asleep. Yesterday was a tiring day for us. Especially with how the situation has become,"Dr Forcas replied cryptically.

It took a while but eventually Furuichi was led to the top most section of the castle, where the highest Echelons of the 84th Pillar Squad were waiting. The young man couldn't help but feel the cold tingle of danger running down his back at being in the presence of so many dangerous existences around him.

"Oh, it's good to see you again boy, or rather should we call you Lieutenant now?" Behemoth asked as he spared a wide smile to Furuichi.

"Oh, Behemoth-san," Furuichi muttered a terrified greeting, "It's a pleasure to see you again!" The old man chuckled and gestured to a seat on the round table that dominated the center of the room.

"Please seat boy, we have much to discuss," Behemoth said and Furuichi quickly complied, staring uneasily at Laymia and Hecadoth who had taken seats far down the isle. "Now I'm sure you are wondering why we have asked of you to come here," Behemoth said in his gravelly old voice.

"Yea," Furuichi agreed, "I would imagine Oga would be better suited here." He immediately regretted mentioning that name as all of the assembled Pillars glared balefully at the space in front of them. Even Jabberwock's eyes darkened.

Though they had allowed Oga to drain them of power to defeat Satan, that didn't mean they had forgotten their past grievances with the young boy. The only one not all too affected was Laymia, Dr Focas, and Agiel who was twirling her hair idly.

"While Oga would have been a likely candidate, I'm afraid our situation requires a more deft touch," Behemoth replied easily, since he didn't really have that great of a problem with the boy. "Rather our Lord Beelzebub has a plan for him and wishes us not to disturb him. Besides you are more than enough and with your Kings Crest, your battle potential at your base is higher than before."

"Oh...is that so," Furuichi said. Or rather, he didn't like the sound of that.

"Furuichi, just how exactly do you perceive the situation in Hell?" Hecadoth asked seriously, watching him carefully.

"Eh?" Furuichi was surprised at the sudden question, "What do you mean? Hell is ruled by the current Beelzebub isn't it?"

Behemoth nodded as he stapled his fingers together, "Yes, but there seems to be a discrepancy between what you know and what the devils around you have mentioned. Currently, there are Four Great Satans that rule over hell, objectively, you can consider them our standing government."

Furuichi's eyes bulged, " _Four_?!"

"Yes," Laymia nodded her head, "Beelzebub, Lucifer, Asmodeus and Leviathan. While our Lord Beelzebub has indeed united this section of Hell, his territory is only a small portion of hell."

"Wait Lucifer?! But we defeated her!" Furuichi exclaimed.

Hecadoth shook his head, "That Lucifer is a descendant of the Old Mao, rather, it is easier for us to say that in the past there was a civil war between the Current Maos and the Old Maos. Thus, resulting in the formation of Hell today. Are you keeping up with me Tactician?" Hecadoth asked. Slightly deterred by the onslaught of information that he didn't know about, Furuichi nodded shakily.

"Our current Beelzebub, Ajuka Beelzebub of the House of Astaroth, is considered one of the strongest in Hell, equal to that of the current Lucifer. While they are both quite strong, Lord Beelzebub was smarter and was able to create most of the formulas that govern devil society today," Behemoth stated. At Furuichi's uncomprehending gaze, Behemoth elaborated. "With the loss of Devils in the civil war, Our Lord Beelzebub devised the Evil Chess Piece system. It is the process of reincarnating a human into a Devil through the use of a chess piece that grants certain attributes to the reincarnated Devil. You could compare it to the King system that Devil contractors use. Unlike Devil contractors though, the abilities of the reincarnated Devils do not require a stream of power from the King."

"Wait," Furuichi interrupted, "You can reincarnate humans into devils?!"

"Yes, though only those we have deemed strong. However, only the high devils are able to use the Evil Piece system fully," Behemoth clarified.

"I don't see how this affects me," Furuichi said, "Or rather wasn't the current Beelzebub supposed to be a lazy demon that goes with the flow?! What's with this out-of-the-blue development!" Furuichi shut his mouth quickly, hoping he hadn't insulted anybody they all seem too engrossed in their thoughts to notice.

"Recently there has been movement outside of Hell, in Japan specifically, by the Fallen Angels. We are not sure exactly of what is actually occurring, but we are wary to find out what. Currently, Our Lord Beelzebub has ordered us not to disturb but as members of the 84th Pillar Squad, we have also gotten whiff of the Old Mao faction on the move."

"Again I don't see how this affects me! I understand the need for exposition but you're boring our readers!" Furuichi said.

"For starters," Jabberwock began, shocking Furuichi, "While the 84th Pillar Squad are incapable of doing anything here in Hell, on Earth it gives us certain leeway especially with our newly inducted Lieutenant."

Furuichi felt the beads of sweat roll off his forehead, "But I'm a highschool student!" Furuichi countered desperately. He did not want to be included in whatever turf war was going on in Hell.

"That will be handled, you will be transferred to a school within the vicinity of the disturbance," Behemoth stated.

"What makes you think I'll go," Furuichi yelled.

At that time Hecadoth sucked in a breath. All of the Pillar squad stared at him, as they too had wondered about the answer to that question. Hecadoth was the one with the longest history with the Lieutenant and while the others had been called by him various times throughout the year, Hecadoth was the only one to have been called as often. Not too mention Agiel would always drag him to the Pillars annual lunch party and sit him on their table next to Hecadoth.

After a moment Hecadoth stood up and stood behind Furuichi, his voice lowered to a whisper. "The school has a population dominated by girls with C cup breasts and shapely legs," he intoned, hands gripping Furuichi's shoulders.

"O-oooohhhhh!" he snapped, "Why didn't you say so! Let me go! Let me goooooo!" All at once the Pillar Generals stared at Furuichi with disbelieving looks.

 _What an ass._

"Hey! I'm a healthy teenage boy!" he cried, having heard their thoughts.

 **Hey there WDO345 here with his first story on this site. I really ddon't know where to go with this stoey but I'll let the flow decide for me, anyways. Thank you for reading this far into this rather haphazard intro, prologue thingy, and please point out any mistakaes in grammar or the like. Also don't forget to leave a review, it feeds ky muse.**


	2. Chapter 2

"Oh! A school 90% made up of women! What is this? When has God been so just! I will pray! I swear I'll pray forever for such a great blessing!" Furuichi muttered happily as he sat quietly in the back of a cover. Hecadoth was driving and Agiel was sitting in the passenger seat while Lamia was sitting next to him. "But I wonder why you had to tag along."

Lamia glanced at him with a hmph sound as she crossed her arms, "It's not like I wanted to! Dr Forcas was worried how you would fare in the current theater of war, so he asked me to make sure you were in pristine health!" That made Furuichi slightly uneasy, thinking that there was a chance he might be banged up enough to warrant having a doctor on hand permanently. And what was this 'Theatre of War'? It's a school! Not a warzone! "Plus as the daughter of the 2nd in command, it was to be expected I would tag along!"

"Well, sure, I guess. What about the two of you? I thought the whole reason I was going in the first place was because I could call on you guys with the tissues!" Furuichi asked the two in the front.

"We'll be playing liaison between you and the devil's in the school. You should take care, the sisters of the current Lucifer and Leviathan are currently enrolled in that school, alongside several other people aware of the supernatural world such as Beast Tamers," Hecadoth explained as he handed Furuichi a photo of the two Sitri and Gremory heirs.

"Holy shit those are huge knockers!" Furuichi yelped as he stared at the bust of the redheaded Gremory girl. Before he could say more however he felt a powerful punch smash into his gut, and the wind leaving his body alongside his soul.

"Geeze! Is that all you think about!" Lamia complained as she turned away from the disgusting boy. Agiel giggled quietly into her hand as Hecadoth smirked at the young Lieutenant.

"I agree," Hecadoth stated, "She has an impressive rack."

"Oh? Heca-chan can be ecchi too!" Agiel laughed even harder when Hacadoth frowned at the comment.

"I'm just saying," he muttered.

"Regardless," Furuichi said, slightly breathless from the punch, "Why am I dressed in the 84th Pillar Squads uniform?" He was in fact dressed in the all military uniform, just without the coat. As a Lieutenant, Furuichi had learned that while he had power over the lower ranked members of the Pillars, the Pillar Barons and Generals generally outranked him.

"You're going in the guise of an exchange student from a military school. We thought, since you would have to get used to wearing the uniform eventually in the future, might as well get you doing it now, right?" Agiel said. Furuichi sweat dropped at such nonchalant thinking.

"Listen here, Furuichi! These are important figures in Hell, so you better go in with utmost respect! They are probably busy and wouldn't have time to deal with your lecherous ways!"

 _Lecherous ways_ , Furuichi felt like crying at that. "Yea, yea," he muttered. If anything Oga was the only person in his life who could be said to be an 'Important figure' and if they were anything like his best friend then he would actually really cry.

"Alright, we're here," Hecadoth said as he stared at the school building. Furuichi however wasn't paying attention to that, instead he was staring unashamed at the scores of beautiful young school girls that filled the school grounds.

 _Tennis teams!_ he cried happily as he stared at the school's tennis team that were practicing on their court. _Beautiful girls_ , Furuichi thought with utter joy in his heart, ignoring Lamia who was stomping her foot into his ankle. "Ah, I feel so refreshed~" He said happily.

Agiel giggled at his reaction even as Hecadoth parked the car inside the school building. "Still, I can't believe mom and dad agreed to have me here. Though we ended up bringing Honoka with us too," he said, thinking back on his sister. She wanted to spruce up their new apartment first before going to school, of which she was enrolled alongside her brother, but as a first year as opposed to Furuichi's second year.

"It was pretty easy, they were pretty inclined to get you out of Ishiyama as quickly as possible," Hecadoth agreed, "The only problem was what you said to Oga. What did you say to him."

"Told him I was going to a Hentai convention, he let go pretty quickly and Hilda called me a douche before I left," Furuichi muttered. It was about the only thing he could say without them getting suspicious of him, but having Hilda call him a douche unnecessarily hurt him deep inside and... _oh_ so many short skirts are in his view.

"Is that enough?" Hecadoth muttered as he stared at the perfectly reasonable way Furuichi said that.

"More than enough actually," Lamia agreed. Hecadoth ignored the implications of such words and instead hopped out of the car with Agiel in tow. Both Lamia and Furuichi followed in suit, the male of the two adjusting the new foreign attire he was wearing. In Ishiyama he didn't really need to wear the uniform with any semblance of strictness, but with the military attire he realised he was forced to or look utterly out of place in them. At least he didn't have the coat, he thought.

"I wonder if you're going to be a main or just another comic relief," Lamia muttered as she walked alongside him. Furuichi wondered why she was there, as she wasn't old enough to actually be enrolled into kuoh Academy and he'd rather not spend too much time with her, lest he be labelled as Creepichi here as well.

"It'd be rather strange to have a crossover with a mob character now wouldn't it? Nor would it be entertaining," Furuichi laughed. Nothing else of much importance was said as Furuichi entered school ground, and he tried his best not to fumble with all of the kids staring at him. Of course the sight of him would be rather surprising to the average student, who were probably not used to see three obviously militantly dressed people enter their school grounds. At least Agiel was covering up her bikini with her coat, heaven knows the misunderstandings that would bring.

"Hey look, are they new transfers?!"

"Eh? What's with the military uniforms."

"Rather than that why do they have gills?"

"Must be a foreigner thing."

Furuichi sweatdropped at that last bit. Hecadoth stopped in the middle of the hallway and handed Furuichi a piece of paper. "This is your class. You may go and do whatever you wish, me and Agiel will speak with those in charge of this territory."

"I'll go set up at your apartment," Lamia said, "Don't do anything weird while I'm gone." Furuichi nodded his head and bade goodbye to them before heading to his assigned classroom. While he walked hundreds of thoughts filled his mind, like how the new students would react to him. Furthermore, what was with this weird setup of him being in a military school?! Is that cool? Was there even a military school with uniforms like these?!

Sighing to himself he rapped the door on his newest classroom. The teacher inside glanced at him for a moment before he understood that he was likely the newest student. Walking into the classroom Furuichi waited for the teacher to introduce him.

"Pay attention everyone, we have here a new student transferring over from a military school in Macau. It must be difficult for him so please do your best to get along with him."

Furuichi sweatdropped and wondered how he was going to explain this to Honoka. "Yes, I'm Takayuki Furuichi, it is nice to meet you." Furuichi tried to bow his head but his uniform immediately forced him to snap a salute. Oh right, Agiel had told him that his uniform was imbued with certain properties to make him a good soldier, at least until he got used to the movements by himself.

The students began whispering idly at the odd gesture and Furuichi felt like crawling away, but for the sake of the mission, and for the fact that some girls might like the military-esque vibe, he stuck with it. "Alright you can take a seat next to Saji-kun over there."

Glancing at the seat, Furuichi nodded his head and sat down rigidly next to the dirty blonde haired boy. Furuichi wondered whether the boy was a delinquent but cast it aside when he turned to him with a friendly smile. "Hey there. The name's Genshirou Saji, I'm the Secretary of the Student Council."

Oh? A Student Council? What a nice change from the piece of shit Ishiyama. If Furuichi thought back on it, if Ishiyama had anything resembling a Student Council, then it would be the current group under Oga, mainly being Kanzaki, Himekawa, Kunieda, Toujou, and Natsume. _What a shitty prospect that is_ , Furuichi thought to himself, well besides Kunieda.

"Nice to meet you," Furuichi replied honestly, glad that no one had started to call him names yet. "Still I heard most of the Student Council are made up of beautiful girls."

Saji's smile seem to brighten to a certain lecherous degree, yet guarded enough to let Furuichi know he was talking about friends. Fufufu, even that was enough. Of course for anybody to enter a school filled to the brim with girls, they had to be a massive pervert.

"All of the girls in the Student Council are stunningly beautiful especially Sona-Kaichou!" Saji said with such zealous zeal that Furuichi was slightly taken aback.

Sona-Kaichou? Wait, what was with this scene. A boy in a female dominated Student Council with apparent affection to the president. It can't be?! There surely must be girls that like him, could it be. Could he already met a piece of shit who has a harem.

The bell for lunch rang and before Furuichi could mutter anything, a short girl and another girl with white-hair and big breasts appeared grabbing onto Saji. Tears of jealousy flowed down his voice. "Even here I'm trapped in a love comedy!" Saji looked like he was going to defend himself but Furuichi quickly turned away and ran like a little bitch with his tail in between his legs.

"How can plain looking guy already have a harem?!" he yelled. Wait?! Was it because the girls outnumbered the guys? Going from that logic it was only natural right to end up having a harem! Despite the utter foolishness of such thoughts, Furuichi gripped onto it like a lifeline. "That's it! I'll start a harem! I'll do it! Don't laugh at me, with this school full of girls I'll make a harem!"

He would have continued had he not felt a sharp pain on his spine and knew that Lamia had overheard him. For the next thirty minutes the group of students who were passing by were given the odd view of a boy dressed like a soldier being lectured by a chibi.

After the whole ordeal, Takayuki was about to lash out at Lamia for attacking him in the middle of school when Alaindelon appeared and whisked him away again. Being thrown out gasping in the middle of the rain, Furuichi glared balefully up at the old man. "What was that about?! And why did you only grab me? I told you to stop doing this you old man!" Furuichi yelled at him.

However Alaindelon didn't look at him and instead stared at something behind Furuichi. That was when Takayuki felt it, the overwhelming killing intent that saturated the air. Turning around, Takayuki was able to spot a priest in the middle of the alleyway, squaring off with a blonde pretty boy holding a demonic sword. "Alaindelon," Furuichi muttered.

"Yes Takayuki-dono, it seems a member of Gremory-sans peerage has engaged in combat with a troublesome opponent. That is one of the Holy-swords of Excalibur. This is most disturbing."

Furuichi frowned and quietly pulled out his tissues, "Alaindelon, that boy is a demon...blonde hair, pretty boy, Kiba Yuuto. Rias Gremory's Knight."

"Oh, I see you paid attention."

"Yea, he seems roughed up. Alaindelon take him to Lamia, I'll deal with the priest," Furuichi muttered. Maybe it came from the war with the Fallen Angels back in Ishiyama or the recurring fights since then but Furuichi was unusually calm with the multitude of blood lust in the air.

"Understood." Without a moment too soon alaindelon had quickly appeared behind Yuuto-san. The Knight cried out for a brief moment before disappearing completely within the transportation devil.

"HUH?! WHAT'S THIS! I WAS HAVING A GOOD MATCH!" The priest yelled. Fruichi landed in front of him, causing the priest to turn towards him. "OH ANOTHER RUNT IS HERE? YOU DON'T SMELL LIKE A DEMON! HAHAHAH!"

Furuichi smirked, the tissues were already in his nose and it seemed like the priest wasn't able to sense the thought projection behind him. "Come Jabberwock," Furuichi muttered, his personality influenced by the presence inside him.

"Ah, do we kill him. Do I trash him to death? He seems tough, that damn exorcist."

"Just make it a light thrashing," Furuichi commanded and dropped to a ready stance. Freed launched forward and Jabberwock completely took over his body, sidestepping the attack and grabbing the priests arm. " **Oi, you piece of shit Gaki. That's a nice sword you got there.** "

 **Just couldn't help putting epic Furuichi in there somehow. Hhah, Freeds gonna get thrashed that piece of shit. I'll probably rotate between comedy and action but I'm having difficulty with the comedy side. Anybody who wants to add in jokes and the like are welcome! As always your reviews are appreciated, I say that but I only have one review right now XD**

 **Guest: The Perverted Foursome? The Perverted Quartet? Haha, at least Furuichi wouldn't be the only one being called names this time. But who knows, he might land himself some action to get their jealousy too.**


	3. Chapter 3

Freed was tossed around like a ragdoll by Jabberwock, becoming nothing more than the Demon Generals play thing. However, the shitty swordsman was good and Furuichi had some bruises and cuts on his body. Due to the demonic power surging through him, they were excruciatingly painful, but like all other times Furuichi was possessed by Jabberwock, he realised he relished the feeling of being hurt. It felt good to feel the adrenaline coursing through him again.

Freed staggered out of the wall, coughing and spitting blood, and the Jabberwock possessed Furuichi slowly walked towards him. The overconfidence filled him, and Furuichi decided that his prey wasn't worthy to see him go all out just yet.

"Kuh?! How? You're human but I can feel demonic power flowing out of you in waves!" The shitty priest screeched as he brought his sword back up, "A demon contractor? Are you one of those shitty fools who sold their souls to demons?"

Furuichi felt his anger spike at that, and with his Jabberwock induced instincts, he rushed forward and brought a heel down on the priest's neck. A slice of wind and Furuichi bit his lip as his right thigh was skewered with a simple holy water doused knife. " **Worthless trash!** " he hissed and kicked Freed away.

The shitty swordsman cackled, even as blood trickled down his face, and rushed forward. Furuichi braced and met his attack with a swing of his arm, knocking the blade away with startling amount of brute force demonic energy. Jabberwock wasn't a finesse type of demon like Elim or Agiel, he was raw strength all the way through.

Freed bounced back in shock, "How?!" He yelled. While Furuichi had a demon in him, and likewise had demonic energy inside, he wasn't a demon and thus Excalibur's Light properties couldn't make him perish with a single cut, but the sword was still abnormally sharp and as such he was suffering with the injuries.

" **Reminds me of when I fought against Oga** ," Furuichi muttered as he stared at his torn knuckles dripping blood. " **But your attacks are pathetically weak compared to him!** " The white-haired Lieutenant re-engaged with the priest, taking the attacks with his body as he delivered swift and punishing strikes of his own. Usually Jabberwock would expend demonic energy to envelope around Furuichi to act as a shield against enemies, but with Excalibur's shitty aspects the shield was useless. As such his body was left bare naked to the enemy, but thankfully, his fists hit more times than the sword did.

A powerful uppercut that sent the priests into the air caused the priest to land on the ground with barely any way to counter. He slid against the wet pavement and while he tried to return to a standing position, Furuichi had already slammed his foot onto his back. " **Excalibur Rapidly** ," Furuichi muttered as he stared at the sword. He smirked as Jabberwock manipulated his body to kick the downed priest in the gut. " **You're not fast enough for it! You shitty priest. I think I remember you, killing my men in the West, eh? Shitty priest Freed** ," Furuichi muttered as he lifted the bleeding Exorcist up.

"Haha!" The Exorcist pushed his head towards Furuichi, splattering blood onto his face, and the Lieutenant tossed the body in disgust. "I'm too slow?" he yelled, "My Excalibur Rapidly is more than fast enough!" The Exorcists scooped Excalibur Rapidly from the ground and the blade disappeared I to a whirlwind of strikes.

Furuichi tried to dodge but the multitude of hits moving in every direction caused him to lose more and more blood with each swing. Furuichi wasn't a demon, he was a human, and blood loss was especially brutal to him as he wasn't as durable as a Demon.

Knowing this Jabberwock pulled at Furuichi's strings and pulled him back away from the priests. "WHAT RUNNING AWAY! KUKUKU, WHERE IS THAT POMPOUS ATTITUDE!" A vein popped on the boys forehead and even if he was bleeding out, he wouldn't allow such a slight against his pride to sway. Furuichi reared his arm back, a demonic seal forming in front of him, and punched through it.

A demonic blast much like Oga's shot forward and slammed into the shitty priest. A long beautifully agonizing scream filled the air and made it know to Furuichi that the Exorcist had taken the full brunt of his punch, and the demon possessed boy brought his arm back around ready for another punch. But when the smoke and debris cleared, the shitty priest was gone completely.

Sighing to himself, Furuichi readjusted his slightly torn and bloodied uniform. Removing the tissues would leave him a mess on the ground, so Jabberwock removed himself from inside Furuichi and kept watch around him for anything out of the ordinary. "I felt a presence that swooped by," Jabberwock stated. "Feathers," he spat.

"What was it?" Furuichi asked, wheezing and panting. Without the near constant stream of unholy demonic energy surging through him, the Lieutenant was barely able to stand straight. If he tissues fell off there was no doubt he'd hit critical condition immediately without the extra strength.

"Angels, but not as bright as those in Heaven. Fallen-Angels. Boy, head back to your home and then release me from the summoning. I have to report this, Lucifer and Beelzebub-sama would want to know this," Jabberwock ordered.

"Aye," Furuichi muttered weakly and took off running to the direction of his home. As he ran he wondered about the blonde pretty boy and hoped he was fine, he had heard the Gremory's weren't so bad and at least he'd be able to finally meet he Oneesan with the impressive rack.

He reached his home as the rain began to let up, and the blood that stained his uniforms had run off slightly. Furuichi paused in front of the door, the small apartment that he owns with his sister that had a living room, three rooms and a kitchen. Deciding that the front door was a bad idea, he used Jabberwock's demonic power and scaled the side of the building, lunging himself into his room which had the window opened.

"Furuichi?!" Lamia cried out in alarm as she noticed his bloodied form enter the brightly lit room. Furuichi flinched and quickly pulled the tissues out, bidding Jabberwock goodbye.

"I don't feel so good, Lamia." He collapsed onto the bed, rolling himself up to a ball as Lamia tried to make him do the opposite.

"Stop that, I need to see the damage!" she protested. The Lieutenant decided that fighting the person trying to help you was ridiculous and quickly did as she ordered.

"Kuh!" He heard Lamia click her tongue. Why was that?! Was the damaged that bad! "Furuichi don't move, this is going to be painful but-!" A loud crunch noise was heard and Furuichi opened his mouth to a silent horrified scream as he realised that Lamia was setting the bone back on his broken Ulna. Widening his eyes, Furuichi was allowed to see the actual damage to his body.

While he had sustained extensive damage with broken bones and bruises along his body before in Ishiyama, Furuichi decided that fighting against someone with a weapon was vastly different. There were arcs of blood carved into his body, and he had suffered a broken arm and a busted rib due to some of the attacks from when Excalibur Rapidly activated. Finally, Furuichi resolved to not use Jabberwock again unless fighting someone without a bladed weaponry.

"What happened?" Lamia asked worriedly, "Alaindelon brought a blonde kid back and asked me to patch him up. He's outside in the living room with Honoka keeping him company."

"Wait," Furuichi muttered, "Did you come into my house from the front door?! Did Honoka see you?!"

Lamia frowned, "Of course she did, she opened the door." Furuichi started to sweat. He had known his family had been utterly disappointed in him the moment Alaindelon had entered the household with his ridiculous claims, but after Lamoa entered every night to relieve him of the poisonous effects of the tissues, they had stated getting severely concerned over him. Just the thought of what Honoka must be thinking 'He brought her along?', 'Did she come here willingly?', 'is she being forced here or blackmailed?', made Furuichi fear his own family all of a sudden. "Enough of that!" Lamia insisted, "What happened to you?! Get your priorities straight!"

She's right! He was supposed to be the straight man! Was his removal from Oga's sie reduced him into the same highly improbable idiots with crossed priorities? "Alaindelon brought me over to fight between an Exorcist and that blonde kid. I fought off the Exorcist and told Alaindelon to transport the kid here."

"An Exorcist?!" Lamia said in alarm, "Who did you summon?!"

"Jabberwock."

Lamia's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets in surprise. "He was able to do this much damage to you with Jabberwock?!"

Furuichi couldn't help but laugh awkwardly, "Rather he didn't take the fight seriously and didn't care how fragile my body was."

The young doctor seemed shocked at that, her eyes wide as she stared at Furuichi. The Lieutenant was afraid he had said something wrong but before he could placate her she had already returned to her usual Lamia face with her arms crossed over her chest. "Geez! You guys are way too reckless!" She complained as she bandaged his arm. "I can't do much know but if I can get some tools over from Alaindelon I can fix you up, though I can't remove the scarring. Your frail human body is incapable of handling some of my more advanced healing remedies."

"Ahahaha, anything is fine as long as I'm not dead, Lamia," Furuichi said. The little girl didn't say anything but tighten the bandages around his arm. Furuichi only barely paid attention to the stinging hisses and pained grunts that left his mouth as she worked, remaining perfectly still for her to work.

"Here I need you to eat this pill," she said handing him a tablet, "It'll ease the pain, like a regular painkiller, but speed up your natural healing with demonic power."

"That's pretty convenient," Furuichi muttered. He swallowed the bitter tasting tablet without fuss and pulled a new set of clothes from his wardrobe. Unfortunately, they were another set of 84th Pillar Squad uniform. "Lamia go see how the kid is doing while I change."

The young demon blushed and quickly left the room as Furuichi went about the task of putting on his clothes. While he did he thought about the match with Freed. It was a bitch-and-a-half to deal with, what with the Excalibur breaking most of his defences. Furuichi considered the idea of using a sword to do battle with the priest in the future. It would be wiser to use that method but that would rely heavily on Agiel or his luck in calling one of the swordswomen in the 84th.

"Thoughts for another time," Furuichi said out loud. He secured the top portion of his uniform and smoothed out the collars before stepping out and seeing the Gremory Knight seating on the couch with Honoka blushing by his side. Lamia was in the kitchen doing who knows what.

"Ah Furuichi-san, I apologise for intruding," the pretty boy said with a handsome smile. Tch, Furuichi was regretting helping the bastard of a pretty boy out. However, Furuichi had spent long enough around delinquents to know that the kid's inner thoughts were far from what he displayed.

"Honoka-chan can you please let me talk to my friend, Yuuto-san, here," Furuichi asked his sister. The youngest Furuichi sagged her shoulders but knew that it was the polite thing to do so she quietly excused herself and entered her room in the apartment. While that happened, Lamia quietly entered the living room, a curious expression on her face.

"Knight-san," Furuichi asked, sighing as he carefully dissolved into the couch, "Why were you fighting an Exorcist so late in the night."

"I wasn't," the Knight admitted, "He attacked me, Lieutenant-san." Furuichi smiled a little as he stretched out on the couch.

"Were you already briefed on the situation?" He asked. The Knight nodded as he set the teacup down on the table, watching the starry skyline outside the living room window.

"Sona-Kaichou has already informed us of the situation. Basically, you're a member of an organization from the Demon world that will be stationed in Kuoh for a 'just-in-case' scenario," Yuuto-san blinked then turned to him, "But to think a member of the 84th would come to the Human world, makes you wonder if a war was coming soon."

"No, no," Furuichi quickly denied, "Even if you say that, I'm just a Lieutenant! A Lieutenant! Not only that but I'm also human! I've just been mixed up in all this! A war?! Don't be nuts, I'll seriously die." Yuuto-san seemed surprised by his reaction but smiled in a polite gentlemanly manner.

 _Seriously go die_ , Furuichi thought. "Do not be modest. Human or not, to be a Pillar is said to be a difficult task," Yuuto-san interjected.

"Listen, Kiba-san, can I call you Kiba?" At Yuuto-san's nod, the now Kiba-san crossed his arms as he waited for Furuichi to continue, "I may be a Pillar but please, I'm still an ordinary boy. Either way, the situation you was in is dangerous! Extremely dangerous. That swordsman is a serious problem, so it'd be smart of you to inform you Master, Gremory-san, of what has transpired."

It took a while but Kiba-san finally nodded reluctantly. "I...agree, that would be for the very best."

Furuichi nodded and stood up, "Now I'm sorry to be rude, but it's rather late you know and Honoka has school tomorrow." Kiba smiled and nodded, standing up with all the grace of an actual knight.

"No, not at all. I thank you for your consideration. Oh, if you could, can you stop by the Occult Research Club? I'm sure having your point of view would help in retelling the exact encounter. Not to mention, my Master is interested herself in this apparently powerful member of the 84th."

"Powerful, eh?" Furuichi didn't know what to do, so he just smiled and laughed. Kiba smiled at him and left the apartment with a final wave to them.

"My what a handsome gentleman," Lamia blushed behind the counter, "Nothing like the disgusting Furuichi right here."

"This disgusting Furuichi is right here!"

With Kiba gone, Honoka decided to return to sleep while Lamia told him she would return to Hell for a while. "Don't do anything dangerous while I'm gone!" she yelled before leaving.

Furuichi waved goodbye to her, threatened Alaindelon from entering his room, and slept the aches and pains away. When the sun rose he went back to Kuoh Academy, arms nestled behind his back and posture perfect as dictated by the semi-alive piece of clothing. Hecadoth and Agiel had already left for the Demon World, telling him to stay careful of any Fallen-Angels about, then left without another word.

The walk to Kuoh was uneventful, and Honoka was rather silent as she nervously twitched by her side. His little sister was rather nervous of Kuoh Academy, which was much larger and held more prestige than any other she'd been in. Wasn't a good older brother supposed to do something here? Say something manly and cool to the adoration of their little sister, something like 'Nii-san you're so cool!', yea?

Last he remembered his relationship with his sister wasn't the best. In fact, alongside his family, he was sure his sister thought ill of him. Not anymore! "Honoka," he yelled, surprising the girl, "No matter what happens come straight to Nii-san and he'll help you out. There's nothing Nii-san won't do for you!" Furuichi grabbed his hips, smiling slightly to himself. That was cool, wasn't it? Opening his eyes he was shocked to realise that Honoka was staring at him with a disgusted expression.

"Is that what you said to that poor girl?" She muttered in apparent revulsion. Poor girl?! Did she meant Lamia?! What is this?! Get real do you really think your older brother is that creepy! This isn't a shonen manga where it would fly without a bat of an eyelash. "Nii-san we're already here, so I'll take my leave!"

"W-wait!" Furuichi stuttered as she quickly ran off to her class. He stared at her back, his face flat across his head. "You got the wrong idea," he mumbled, staring at her back.

Furuichi sighed pitifully to himself and would have continued moving had someone not stepped into his personal space. "Furuichi-san," a voice said. Oh? It was Saji-kun again! Furuichi wondered what he wanted.

"Oh, Student Council Secretary, nice to see you," Furuichi said casually in greeting. The sandy brown haired boy nodded curtly and stuttered. What was with this weird reaction?

"Sona-kaichou has asked for your presence Lieutenant-san," Saji said, sweating a little bit. Oh. It seems he was also already informed of him. But Sona-kaichou? That must be the Sitri Heiress.

"Oh? Is that okay? School is going to start soon and wouldn't the students be wondering why I'm there?" Furuichi asked, rubbing the back of his head.

Saji smiled tightly, "It's alright, Sona-kaichou has already prepared for your arrival. Please just follow me," Saji said. Furuichi nodded his head and quietly followed Saji until they reached the Student Council room. Stepping in showed a number of curious developments, for one thing the Student Council was indeed filled with beautiful young women, and the other thing was that Sona-kaichou was also indeed a cool and mature beauty.

Furuichi already felt his blood circulate throughout his body. Keeping his poker face on, his body immediately snapped a salute instead of the bow he intended. Sona-kaichou smiled at him and rose to her feet, assuming a posture as though she was addressing a dutiful soldier. No wait! You've got the wrong impression!

"It is an honor to meet the esteemed Lieutenant of the 84th Pillar Squad," Sona-kaichou greeted.

"E-eh?" Furuichi chuckled awkwardly, _not this again,_ "Really I'm just a regular Lieutenant." Sona-kaichou had a face of stern calculation but her face seemed to show that she expected much of him. Please, he wasn't being humble!

"Your cohorts Hecadoth-san and Agiel-san spoke highly of you, and to have the favor of two high ranking Pillars is no easy feat," Sona-kaichou said. Damn you Hecadoth! "However, there is a reason why I called you here. While the Pillar Squad is welcome here, I must be aware of the situation. Hecadoth-san explained the situation as best he could, about the Fallen-Angels and the Old Maou faction, but the situation has entered a delicate phase."

"Delicate?" Furuichi asked, understanding the severity of the situation.

"There are currently two Exorcists who gave requested to speak with Rias Gremory, who is in charge of this territory, about a current situation only I can begin to imagine," Sona-kaichou said. Furuichi didn't really get what the big deal was but he could infer from his battle with the Exorcist he other day that this wasn't normal, "Do you not think it strange? How two devout believers of their Lord and Savior has taken to coming to us, the Demons, to talk? For something like that, for them it is heresy of the highest order. Yet two Exorcists have came to me and asked."

Furuichi thought about it. While he wasn't the brightest knife in the drawer, Furuichi was damn well smarter than the delinquents in Ishiyama and after years of watching his own hide, he was able to understand a dangerous situation. "There's something happening that is warranting the action. Can't be a simple mission, if so then why go through the trouble. Maybe to ask for cooperation, or perhaps non-interference? Both of them would be troubling."

Sona-kaichou nodded, small smile on her face. "I see why Hecadoth-san likes to call you Tactician."

"Hehe, I'm not that smart," Furuichi said abashedly. It was difficult to keep himself together to be praised so calmly by the spectacled beauty. "But regardless, it comes down to the situation. If it's for cooperation then the mission must be extremely dangerous for them ask for demon assistance and if it is for non-interference then there is a chance the mission could spill over into our territory."

Sona-kaichou noded in agreement, "Yes, in the end of the day, the safety of Kuoh Academy and its students is my priority. So I felt to inform you of the situation, Lieutenant-san, since it is your duty as well," Sona-kaichou said, "And to see you with my own eyes as well."

"Well I'm not much to look at," Furuichi mumbled. Though he felt satisfied that Saji was glaring at him with jealousy. Hey! Its supposed to be the other way around. Be happy with your own harem!

"Also I would like for you to include yourself into the meeting between Rias and the two Exorcists. Not to undermine Rias' authority, however as a member of the 84th Pillar Squad, you will be standing there with the authority of Beelzebub-sama, and thus she cannot object. Furthermore, I can rest easy knowing you could keep Rias from allowing her peerage to do anything too drastic. I fear her kindly nature is far too loose sometimes."

Furuichi didn't understand but nodded his head. This time the uniform didn't object to him bowing, and he did so. "At your leave, Sitri-sama." He was getting used to the vibes the uniform was giving him...almost too quickly.

"Please Sona-kaichou is fine while in school," Sona-kaichou interjected.

Furuichi nodded, "Of course," he agreed and excused himself from the room. As he walked out he wondered what was about to happen after school. "I'll have Honoka return home immediately."

 **I've been getting lots of follows but no reviews. Come on guys, I need to know if I have any grammar mistakes or if the story is flowing well. Reviews help me understand my mistakes and, to be honest, I feed off them. All reviews are appreciated. WDO345, signing out.**


	4. Chapter 4

School was over, and Furuichi adjusted the collar of his shirt as he made his way towards the Occult Research Club. A part of him was a little bit miffed that he had been unable to enjoy himself fully inside the delinquent free, female-dominated, school but his uniform was getting himself enough attention. Furuichi was glad about his fake background in Macau, it brought a lot of curious people, most of them girls, to ask him what the foreign country was like.

"Ah, Miyamura-san has sexy legs," Furuichi mumbled happily. Yes, he could definitely get used to this school, which was filled with many delicate and beautiful women as opposed to the apes back in Ishiyama. But Furuichi had to be careful, he had heard about the 'Perverted Trio' and would rather distance himself as much as he could from them.

But enough of that. He had a situation to think about, one which he had been cornered into by the 84th Pillars Squad. The Exorcists had just entered the school grounds as far as Furuichi was concerned, and since the Lieutenant had been delayed by the class rep assigning him after school duties, he was running a little bit late. Furuichi had already called ahead and told Gremory-san to start without him, as the Occult Research Club was a ways away from the classroom building.

As Furuichi walked, he carefully and discretely shoved two tissue papers into his nostrils. Usually, the tissues would summon a random member of the 84th Pillars Squad, but Furuichi had since learned how to dominate the random selection process with preferences. Usually he'd have a preference for each given situation on hand, and can increase the chances of that specific Devil being summoned. Of course all it did was increase the chances, there was still the possibility of a random member being called.

"Hecadoth," Furuichi greeted as he felt Hecadoth appear next to him.

"I heard Jabberwock lend you his strength the other day," Hecadoth commented idly as he rode behind Furuichi. Of course, he wasn't there physically so he weighed absolutely nothing.

"Yea. An Exorcist, he called him 'shitty priest Freed'. Do you know anything about that?" He asked as he kept walking, folding the tissues a little bit into his nose to conceal them.

Hecadoth smirked at the name, "What no capitals?" he said in jest before getting serious, "Yea, I do actually. He's a troublesome guy who has been a thorn in our side. I'm curious though, we usually see him in France and some parts of England, mostly around Nottingham. Wonder why he's here."

"I don't know but we might find out. Two Exorcists from the Church have arrived requesting an audience with Rias Gremory to talk," Furuichi said, watching Hecadoth expectantly. The Devil made a shocked face, which Furuichi expected, and stared at the ceiling for a moment.

"The wacko Christians are coming to us to negotiate? Never thought I'd see the day," Hecadoth muttered.

Furuichi sweatdropped, "Are you sure you guys are any better? You came to Earth beating and clubbing everything in your way!" He countered. Hecadoth ignored him and crossed his arms, continuing his own tirade.

"I'm sure you're slightly confused with the situation," the Pillar General stated, still clinging onto Furuichi's back with a serious expression. The white-haired Demon Contractor paused for a moment, thinking that statement through. He was confused, because even with logic, it was difficult to keep up with all these new information that he didn't understand.

"Of course I am! I didn't even know Exorcists exist till now! Rather, isn't Kunieda an Exorcist. And what's with this Excalibur? Or these priests? Fallen-Angels? Are you saying Angels actually exist?!" Furuichi seethed, glad that no one was nearby and could hear him.

"I'll explain it all to you the best way I can. Right now the situation between the Three Factions - that is, the Angels, the Fallen-Angels, and the Devils, are at a tipping point." Furuichi fell silent, listening intently as he kept dodging anyone still lingering around school. "Right now, the Fallen Angels are stirring some things up and there is a chance that the Old Maou Faction will do something as well. Right now, not many people know this, which is why the situation is so unclear. What we do know however is that recent activity has dictated a shift in favor. I don't know what's going on in the Angel side, but the Fallen-Angels have gotten troublesome members into their factions, especially a single man who in any case, will be a troublesome factor especially with the Red Dragon Emperor as a member of the Devil's side."

Furuichi frowned, "Red Dragon Emperor?" he asked. Hecadoth shook his head in the negative as he hardened his eyes.

"You'll see him eventually, Dragons are existences which still gather much attention in the world after all. Even our castle once belonged to the Great Dragon King Bahamut. In any case, as you can understand, the current predicament for the 84th is at an all time high. The majority of the 84th is spread across the vast expense of the Demon territory, keeping an eye out on the recent events and ensuring the stability."

"I thought the 84th were loyal to En?" Furuichi asked.

Hecadoth nodded, "However we still obey the orders of Beelzebub-sama and that of the Four Governing Maous. Militaristically, the 84th is under the command of Asmodeus-sama who is in charge of all Military assets in Underworld. The 84th usually deals with internal affairs; however, there are times when we are called to the Human World to secure territory on Earth and escorting young High-class Devils. But that's beside the point," Hecadoth made an irritated grunt at his own monologue, "The point is that, for two Exorcists to willingly come to us, it shows just how desperate the situation has become. Michael, the Archangel, has always been the most righteous, even if he does really wish peace now that the war ended. The Christian belief was never so flexible, and with Jabberwock mentioning one of the Excaliburs in possession of a rogue priest, it just goes to show. Listen here Tactician, the Excalibur is a dangerous sword, able to make even High-class Devils perish with a single blow. Whatever they came here for, if it is connected to that sword, then be wary at all times."

"I'm not sure I can understand it completely," Furuichi muttered, "But basically this event that I'm on could represent the beginning of something big?"

Hecadoth nodded in agreement, "It's best to wait and let it develop. Right now the 84th is tied up with current matters, hence why you're here. I have to go now, while it was breaking bread with you, I could only spare a few moments."

"Why?"

Hecadoth frowned, mulling something over, and shook his head, "We've received disturbing news from an old Devil in the magic association. Really this situation, it is becoming more and more troublesome. Not too mention we share our borders with _that_." Furuichi pondered on what that meant but dutifully removed the tissues after bidding Hecadoth away.

He had arrived early to the meeting, which was fine for him as he addressed the thoughts in his mind. He understood that Excalibur in the possession of that insane rogue Exorcist would spell doom to both the Angels and the Devils. Furthermore, Hecadoth had mentioned Excalibur _s_ which meant that if anything, the meeting would be about the priest and his own Excalibur. However would the priest really be that much trouble to warrant sending two Exorcists? Or even meeting Devils, who they apparently fervently hate. No, hate wasn't so easy to let go for cooperation, Furuichi know this. There were things he didn't know.

The club room door open, and Furuichi noticed the Occult Research Club enter with... _uwaaa_ two beautiful foreign beauties. Before anyone could notice Furuichi saved their images in his mind, even if their bodies were covered by the cloaks. Then he noticed that Yuuto kid standing in the back, his hands tucked behind his back and a sour expression on his face. He was glaring at the Exorcists with a look that Furuichi had seen plenty of times shot at Oga's back. Whatever was troubling him ran deep.

"Gremory-sama," Furuichi greeted respectfully as his body reacted automatically with a salute. The redheaded Gremory girl, whom Furuichi couldn't help but glance a peek at her bust, seemed surprised to see him there before a calm and cool expression took over.

"Lieutenant-san," she greeted, "I had forgotten you would attend the meeting with us." Then she glanced at the two Exorcists, "Excuse me, this is Lieutenant Furuichi of the 84th Pillar Squad, he will be standing there as a representative of Beelzebub-sama."

Furuichi carefully watched their expressions, and noted the slow widening on the darker haired ones eyes. "The Pillar Squad?" she said after a moment as she took a seat, "Are you expecting a war. Even if we are Exorcists from the Church, even we recognise the Devil Army uniform anywhere."

Furuichi felt rather out of place to answer but before he could the Gremory girl interjected, "While the 84th Pillar Squad is, in layman terms, an organized Army, their main duties is the protection of Underworld's borders from outliner threats."

The Exorcist seemed to scoff, "It is still known, widely I might add, that the 84th has a large number of highly powered Devils among their ranks."

Furuichi frowned and couldn't help but ask, "Excuse me, Exorcist-san, however you seem to know a lot about the 84th."

"It's Xenovia, and of course, given that your members use the names of Angels. It is practically insulting to us, who follow our Christian beliefs," Xenovia stated with the girl next to her nodding vigorously.

Furuichi frowned, but didn't really know much to counter her. "Pillar Generals are among the strongest of the Pillars lowest Echelon, ranging from Low to Mid-Class Devils on their own. While Pillar Barons themselves max out at High-Class with their General in command standing at Ultimate-class," the Gremory girl said, and she seemed to toss a glance at Furuichi. _Shit_ , did she think him to be a spineless coward?!

"Either way, if you are with me the Pillar Squad then the air has shifted dramatically," Xenovia stated. "Irina?" She asked of the girl next to her. It was easy to follow the conversatio, well, easy if he just took a minute to connect the dots and ponder on the situation. Three Excaliburs had been stolen from the Church, and all their Exorcists have since not returned then. The leading suspect was one of the leaders of the Grigori, Kokabiel the Fallen-Angel.

Frowning, Furuichi listened on. "Our request… No. Our order is to not to have any devils intrude in the battle between us and the fallen-angels for the Excaliburs. In other words, we came here to tell you not to interfere with this incident."

The Gremory girl pursed her lips asked the very obvious question. "Such manner of speech, do you think we would ally ourselves with the Fallen-Angels?"

"The Headquarters has decreed that it has a high probability," Xenovia stated.

"That is absurd," Furuichi interjected, even though he had thought he was being quiet about it. All eyes turned on him, and he resisted the act of scratching his neck. Maybe it was the uniform talking but Furuichi was able to keep his posture straight as he spoke, "I'm assuming you would think that the situation would be a win-win for both sides? When instead, allying ourselves with the Fallen-Angels and giving them the Excaliburs would create a shift. The current situation that we are in now, in a way, is a tipping point," Furuichi said, borrowing Hecadoth's words, "And giving swords which can cause damage to Devils to the Fallen-Angels would place the Devils in the corner, rather than those on your side. If anything, the situation is just as troublesome for the Devils as it is for you."

Xenovia mulled his words over, watching Furuichi critically, before grunting, "You have a sound mind, and bring up valid points. The higher mustn't have thought about it when they sent us here. That reasoning is enough to sate our current objective needs." Furuichi frowned? So the meeting was for non-interference? Rather, it was to ensure that the Devils won't play sides.

"Still, you cannot expect us to sit idly by. While this is an internal matter to the Church itself, the immediate moment either of you stepped into the Gremory's territory, the situation has become a Devil problem as well. The fighting will damage us directly, and as such, could be cause enough to declare war."

"You are quite knowledgeable about this Lieutenant-san," Irina stated, eyeing him in quiet amazement. Furuichi resisted the urge to blush and tried to look cool in his statue-like 'at ease' position.

"The 84th Pillar Squad mostly handles internal affairs after all," Gremory-san stated, "In fact for the past year they've been active around Japan for reasons only I can imagine. As such, it is to be noted that their members have a good grasp on the political situation in the Underworld."

Furuichi sweatdropped. _Rather they spent that year trying to kill Oga so as to ensure En would be the only contender for the title of Beelzebub._ "For them to be active for a year without us knowing," Xenovia muttered, "I expect you yourself are a veteran member?"

"No, rather I'm a human which has contracted with the Pillar Squad," Furuichi said honestly. A look of shock appeared on the Exorcist and some of the Gremory groups face.

"A human?! And you're a member of a Demon Army?! You must have contracted with someone immensely powerful!" Irina muttered in shock, "Can I ask who you contracted with."

Furuichi just shrugged, "All of them." Silence dominated the room as everyone stared at Furuichi in shock, everyone besides a blonde haired girl and a brown-haired boy who looked rather confused. "What's the matter, did I say something strange?" Furuichi sked.

"With all of them, you say?" Xenovia stuttered, "And a human? You must be exceptionally strong." Furuichi was about to correct her but Irina interrupted him.

"How long ago were you inducted?" Furuichi frowned and crossed his arms.

"A year ago. It was a year ago when I started summoning members of the Pillars to lend me their strength, but after we fought against Satan, I was formally inducted into the group."

"You fought against Satan?!" Both Xenovia and Irina stared at him with wide-eyed shock. "Such a powerful human," Xenovia muttered. Furuichi felt himself start to sweat, _no really you be were terribly mistaken._

"We must leave, I don't think this meeting has a purpose anymore," Xenovia stated as she stood up. Furuichi watched them, wondering about their reaction. Was his current situation really that unbelievable? He had thought it was plausible and that it wasn't really all that surprising. Apparently it was.

But then Furuichi remembered about the situation with Freed the priest and turned to inform them about the rogue Exorcist, when the room was suddenly engulfed in demonic swords.

 **Hey! I'm back and thank you for the reviews! They were great to read and Rocking Red Reaper actually gave me the spur to write most of he explanation in this chapter. Now I know my chapters are short but hopefully I can get around that (writing on the phone isn't always the best option for lag and stuff) and I always take suggestions into consideration. Anyway, Reviews are always appreciated! And thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

Furuichi blocked the biting cuts of the swords with his left forearm. His King's Crest burned as he felt the miniscule amount of power leaking into his body, giving him the added strength and speed to jump away from the full brunt of the attack. He landed carefully away and bit his bottom lip, drawing blood from the sheer intensity of it all. Demonic swords were scattered everywhere, and Furuichi was slightly stunned at seeing so many of them in one place. What an odd ability, Furuichi thought.

The boy drifted back to Kiba-san and he frowned immediately when he noticed the sharp anger that glazed from his eyes. Twitching orbs of hatred filtered from left to right, eyeing every detail of the two Exorcists for any weaknesses. Furuichi stepped forward instinctively, after years of trying to play mitigator to Oga and his violent outbursts. "Kiba-san, restrain yourself!" Furuichi said, his voice only a touch bit desperate as he stepped in between them. Furuichi was slightly concerned returning to the calm Kaichou ad reporting his failure. "Defending yourself is one thing, but the starting a provocation is unreasonable!"

"She was insulting Asia-chan!" The brown-haired boy next to Kiba-san yelled. Furuichi frowned and then turned his head to the shocked looking blond next to him, who had small droplets around her eyes as she stared at the scene with shocked filled eyes.

An action to defend a girl? How chivalrous, a stark difference from Oga, who was as dense as a fifty inch steel wall when it came to women. Furuichi understood their reasoning, perhaps better than anyone else there, but he had made a promise to a calm beauty and he'd be damned if he broke it. "The actions that you take reflect about that of the Devil world. While, yes, you were defending the pride of a comrade, details like that can easily be overlooked, and be subject to scrutiny, in front of a court!" Furuichi said.

The brown-haired boy froze and Furuichi realized a little bit too late that in his haste to create an argument, he had unknowingly sealed a threat in the words. But Kiba-san either hadn't zeroed in on it or ignored it completely, instead he just stared at the Exorcists balefully.

"Gremory-sama," Furuichi said, hoping for her to jump into the fray. Rias shook her head and stepped up, prepared to call her servants back, when Xenovia-san muttered something into the palpable silence.

"It might be interesting to test the strength of Rias Gremory's servants. Also, I'm interested in the strength of the so called senpai." Furuichi paused and stared at the Exorcist, his eyes swirling in shock. But one glance at Xenovia's face showed that she had already made a decision. It was a look Furuichi had seen plenty of time with the top dogs of Ishiyama. This was pride.

"The Church would not be informed of this incident, and so long as we aim to wound rather than kill, then there wouldn't be any problems now would there?" Furuichi frowned, but guessed that was good enough. But still! What was with them?! Was he missing something between Kiba-san and these two Exorcists. I doubt it was just them bullying Asia that drove them to such lengths.

"Still," Furuichi tried to placate, even if he knew it was futile, "The two of you are on an important mission! What would your superiors say if they saw you battling against Devils!"

"They would praise us," Xenovia said calmly.

"Yes they would!" Irina agreed.

Furuichi sweatdropped, remembering who it was he was talking to. "If it makes you feel better, Lieutenant-san, you can be a part of this battle as well. Of course, we are not being insulting, we understand you are more powerful than us, however if it would sate you enough, then I'm sure my partner and I would not have any problems crossing swords with you while we battle against Gremory's servants."

Furuichi frowned, but on the inside he was screaming. He was just trying to stop them! Don't twist his words to the point that it left him little choice but to appear satisfied with the option. Sweating Furuichi grabbed the back of his neck as he stared at them. "W-well, I suppose that I would be able to step in, however, it would be unfair to you, if you were fighting against three opponents."

Xenovia laughed quietly, "That wouldn't be a problem. You can just referee the match while we fight."

Finally conceding to the reasoning Furuichi allowed it with Gremory-san's approval. They had relocated to the outskirts of the school, with Furuichi frowning as he crossed his arms inside the barrier that Akeno-san was setting up. Though there was some blood leaking down as he watched the girl lift her arms up over her heads to cast the magic. Those tits were phenomenal! What was with his school and its girls?!

While that was happening, Furuichi carefully pushed the tissues into his nose. "Eh? Lieutenant-san, are you sick?" The Bishop, Asia Argento, asked as she looked at him. Gremory-san had introduced him to them after the whole fiasco, and Furuichi could only feel more exasperated at how calmly they were talking the situation.

"No, it's just the outside air," Furuichi said, not wanting to tell her that this was how he summoned his contracts.

A small laugh was heard behind Furuichi. "I was surprised though," Gremory-san stated, "I had expected you to start throwing threats at them after they began to insult the 84th Pillar Squad. However, you kept silent and only interjected when the matter affected Underworld as a whole. Indeed, I see Sona was right to place her trust in you, it seemed the reputation of the 84th really doesn't show all their strengths." She said this was a pleasant smile on her face.

 _No, really they were all a bunch of crazy battle-horny wackos!_ Furuichi screamed in his head but he was in complete bliss as he stared at that beautiful face smiling at him.

Then the feeling of a demon popped up next to him. Furuichi turned to his side, and was sweating when he saw the face of Virtra staring back at him, her indifferent expression only making him more nervous. He had very little experience in using the Pillar Baron, but when he had, she had displayed strength capable of destroying whole sections of Ishiyama. Though, she was very lethargic, which she played off with her low-blood pressure. Furuichi hoped he hadn't woke her from her sleep.

"Oh, it's you again. Calling me so soon? Right after Hecadoth? You are greedier than I expected," she commented with a smooth voice. Wait, don't say things like that so casually! People will get the wrong impression. He turned to Gremory-san to try and dissuade any rumors, but to his surprise she merely turned away and stared at the scene where Kiba-san and Issei-san were preparing to do battle.

"I see that you have channeled your power already? Have you already summoned someone to your side, the demonic energy is different but it does fit the nature of Makai," Gremory-san stated. Makai, or Demon World, was the name of hell, but why did she say it as though it was two different places.

"You seem to have a misunderstanding," Virtra said, eyeing him with her same weary eyes and Furuichi was wondering how she was talking at all, "Makai and Underworld are two different territories in Hell, or rather, the plain of existence where demonic entities call home."

"Eh?" Furuichi asked as he walked away, heading towards the space behind the pair of Devils as they spoke with the Exorcists. "I don't understand, what are you trying to say? Aren't all Devils from the same place?"

Virtra stared at him, and Furuichi couldn't help but feel that she was shaking her head in her own mind, "Yes, all Devils come from the same place, but you seem to have a narrow mindset. The world where Demonic entities exist, shares itself with many beliefs. Not only that of the Christian beliefs, but also that of other religions and cultures. Those of Makai, while also Demons, are different to those of Underworld, of which where the Christian Devils live. While Makai has since gained a diversity since our current Beelzebub-sama took over, most of our members are still local to Makai. Hence, the gills for ears," she said, pointing to her ears.

"Wait?! Lamia doesn't have gills! Nor does Hilda!" Furuichi hissed, even as demonic surged around them as the battle started. Vritra looked at him quietly, and Furuichi grew a tidemark when he realised she was belittling him in her head. "Stop that and answer the question!"

Vritra sighed and nodded, "Our second-in-command married a Christian Devil, which I would assume had lead to her daughter not inheriting her some of her features, though the resemblance is still there. Furthermore, the practise of wet nurses had only been influenced after the Civil War, and most wet nurses nowadays are European based Demons, of which shares close ties with the Christian belief."

"I see, so the current Beelzebub practically has control of an entire country?" Well he knew that already, but wouldn't that mean that the same could be said for the other three Maous? Was this okay? Having four members of a single government control entire countries by themselves?

Vritra, again, shook her head, "All four Maous own large parts of the Underworld, however, those parts are still under contest with the other faiths and beliefs. Makai had originally been conquered by the previous Beelzebub through war, and had been integrated as part of the Christian Devil's territory, even though we did not originally come from them. It is the reason why most of our members are greatly influenced by Christian mythology, to better integrate ourselves into the Devil society, which we are still foreign to. Indeed, our demonic energy, while operating under the same terms as those of Underworld, is different to them much like those of the Norse and Chinese mythology."

Furuichi thought about that. Like the first time he had entered the Northern Stronghold, he understood that even the Demon World had its own history. This was all new information to him, and if it was right, then that means there were other Devils and demonic entities that came from different beliefs living down in Underworld. For all he knew, the Supernatural world that he had labeled as bullshit could all be true. Then! Then! The beautiful Yuki-Onnas! They could exist! The beautiful snow women that would spirit men away in the high mountains. Or mermaids, these beautiful creatures that would sing beautiful songs and had the rocking upper body of sensual women! So many amazing thoughts were racing through Furuichi's head.

These feelings were only amplified when he finally glanced at the battle and saw erotic battlewear that the Exorcists were wearing! What is this! Weren't they supposed to be hardcore believers of their religion?! Then why were they dressed like that! No, better yet, they had amazing bodies, seriously! Bishoujos! This school was full of them and Furuichi was in utter bliss as he stared at them.

"Lieutenant-san must have a condition with the outside. His nose is bleeding," he heard Asia say outside the barrier. Furuichi sweatdropped.

"He is a Demon Contractor, while Furuichi-dono may be capable of signing a contract with Devils, he can still be vulnerable to demonic energy. And with Kiba-kun unleashing his demonic swords left and right, the air has become quite saturated with it. Couple that with his summons, then he must be undergoing some difficulty," Akeno-san stated. Yes! That is definitely it!

"Yet he is able to stand completely fine even with the influx of demonic energy. To be able to sign a contract and utilise the Pillars, even the Ultimate-Class Devil Behemoth, he is an extraordinary human. I see why the Pillars have placed so much faith in him. Indeed, to be acknowledged to the rank of Lieutenant when other Demons can spend decades at the simple rank of Private," Gremory-san stated confidently.

Furuichi felt the beads of sweat roll down his forehead. No! Wait! That's going too far. Vritra was staring at him with a blank poker face, and Furuichi couldn't turn to look at her. "She is correct though," Vritra stated, causing Furuichi to look at her in shock. "You're base potential has increased with the King's Crest, allowing us to surge more and more of our Demonic Energy through you, yet even without it, the amount you could contain was already beyond that of a regular human. While you lack physical strength, you are more than capable of calling yourself Lieutenant of the 84th." Furuichi blushed in embarrassment, not used to praise after spending so long under the heel of most of those from Ishiyama. "However," Vritra stated with a frown, "You cannot stay in this level forever. You have already signed a formal contract with us, yet the tissues are still the only method for you to summon us."

Furuichi looked at her in surprise. "W-what do you mean?" But Vritra shook her head and turned to the battle, and Furuichi realised that Issei had been reduced to the ground while Kiba had been knocked out by the swing of Xenovia's Excalibur, Excalibur Destruction.

"It seems we are needed to make sure that these Exorcist understand that Gremory-sama's peerage aren't the only protection in this part of Japan," Vritra stated and Furuichi felt the same feeling of an entity entering him as he did when Hecadoth, Agiel, or Jabberwock did it. But like other times, he felt his personality shift to the influence of Vritra. He felt like, sleeping? Yes, and he was tired too, so he would finish it as quickly as he could. But, the battle didn't require bloodshed, so he didn't need to go all out.

Nodding to himself, pleased with his simple reasoning, Furuichi dashed forward with a surge of Demonic Power. He ducked into a roll, and swooped up one of Kiba-sans discarded demonic swords. He didn't know what properties this one used, but all he needed was the ability to cut something and the sword at least looked sharp. He landed on his feet after he finished his roll and leapt forward with his right leg, swinging with his left sword. Xenovia widened her eyes and tried to block.

The arc of her back, the positioning of her stance, and the the properties of the Excalibur by itself. Yes, she was an attack type of person. These ones were useless against technique types like Vritra, who easily dodged the slow, but still powerful attack. Furuichi then slashed his sword upwards, completely avoiding the blade and striking the pommel, which caused Xenovia to let go of the weapon. The possessed Furuichi glanced at the still floating sword and wondered. Would it be fine to use it? He could finish off irina faster with it? No, it was heavy and required too much work, not only that but it used Holy power which could negate the demonic power surging through Furuichi. Blinking, and yawning at the same time, he rolled to the side to eat up the distance between him and Irina.

"E-eh?" Furuichi paused in front of her, staring at her calmly. Irina was slightly afraid as she stared at the dull looking look in his eyes, she had known him to be powerful, what with him being stated to be a member of the 84th, yet, the look in his eyes clearly stated that he was far stronger than she initially realised. He looked utterly bored with the fight, and seemed disinterested with the fact that he had so quickly disarmed Xenovia, her partner, who had unparalleled destructive ability compared to her. Instead he just stared at her, a calculating glint in his eyes, and Irina shivered. She understood that Takayuki Furuichi was a dangerous man.

If she could read his thoughts though, she would say the same thing but at different context. 'B87-W23-H89,' he thought, 'those are her breast size." With his careful observation now completed, Furuichi allowed demonic energy to surge around him, blanketing the area with a thick disperse of wind, and sent the pommel of his sword towards Irina. She instinctively blocked it, but the sheer force of the attack had caused her Excalibur Mimic to slip out of her fingers and fly over her head. It embedded itself into the ground behind her, making her stare at him with wide, uncomprehending eyes.

" **That is enough** " Furuichi said. His voice was being slightly imbued with the demonic energy and with the influence of Vritra. It was quiet and dull, showing absolutely zero emotion and zero hints to the machinations in his head. It was utterly devoid of life. But to Furuichi, and likewise Vritra, he was just expressing how he just wanted to lie down and fall asleep. " **The match is over. The victors are the Exorcists; Akeno-san, please put down the barrier."**

The woman nodded her head and Furuichi felt Vritra slowly but surely leave his body. "The terms of the contract has been met. Lieutenant-dono, the level which are at is satisfactory, but unless you work harder, you may find it difficult to find satisfactory a good enough level. Eventually, it would be difficult for you to walk alongside Oga."

Furuichi looked at her in confusion, his eyes foggy after being released from the possession. But before he could ask any questions she had disappeared back to Makai. Furuichi shook his head and stared at the two stunned Exorcists. Eventually, Xenovia-san shook her head and turned to addressed Kiba-kun.

"Senpai, I suggest you fight with coolness next time. I trust that our talk earlier has made its point, and as such I see no more reason to continue this." Then she turned to Issei, who was shaking as he stared at her from his prone position. "I will tell you one thing, 'Vanishing Dragon' has already appeared." Furuichi filed that information away as another mention of a Dragon was made.

"Lieutenant-san, I understand now how you were accepted into the ranks of the Pillars even though you are human. The levels of Demonic Energy I felt radiating off you was equal to some of the strongest Devils I had ever fought," Xenovia stated, and there was a hint of grudging respect in her eyes.

"Please, I'm not that special," Furuichi said as he scratched the back of his head. Xenovia smirked as she stared at him.

"Modest as well, you are quite different from other Demon Contractors or the regular Magicians," Xenovia stated and together with Irina, departed from the area. Furuichi stared at their backs, which were not covered by their coats, and oogled for a while. Maybe he should snap a pic for Dr Forcas but decided against it. Instead he turned around and stared at the suddenly dramatic scene between the Gremory's peerage.

"...I was able to run away from there thanks to my comrades. That's why I have to put their regrets into my demonic-swords...," Kiba-san said and Furuichi could understand a man on a vendetta relatively easily.

"Gremory-san," Furuichi said, gaining her attention. Furuichi may be overstepping his boundaries, but indeed, there was nobody there at that moment that could understand the situation anymore than he did. He came from a school rife with cases less milder than Kiba-san's case after all. "Let him be. When he needs to come back to you, he will." Oga had done this plenty of times, and there was never a moment when he would not return back beside Misaki or him.

To Furuichi's surprise she followed his direction, even with a little bit of reluctance. "Issei, are you ok?" She asked as she went to tend to her Pawn. Furuichi watched with slight jealousy as this kid had four beauties hovering over his shoulder, and he bit the cloth of his collar as he turned away and quickly walked away.

But as he walked he wondered what Vritra had meant by that, and he wondered what exactly had he involved himself with. This amount of politics was starting to put a downer on his mood, and he was learning more and more about a world he honestly had no interest in. "If this situation progress, I might actually get used to being a Pillar." Furuichi muttered as he stomped back into school grounds.

Flies were darting around his vision, and Furuichi sighed, knowing that the effects of the tissues were starting to show now, though at least the flies were less annoying and more manageable then when he first started using them. With a sigh, he called out for Alaindelon.

"Oh? Takayuki-dono! My, what a surprise, you usually never call for me!" Alaindelon said as he stared at Takayuki with a light blush.

"Not now," Furuichi said tiredly, feeling the mental exhaustion of his thoughts taking over his mind, "Take me home, I need Lamia to get the poison out of my system."

"I see, I see," Alaindelon said and quickly transported Furuichi away, however, as a sensor, Alaindelon failed to notice the black wings that spread outside the building that Furuichi had taken refuge in.

 **Hey there! Here's another chapter with all you dandy people! Now, again, Reviews are always appreciated, and I always try my best to incorporate the ideas of my reviewers. the idea of demons in Makai were different to Demons in Underworld was suggested by** _Red Rocking Reaper_ **and the little hints here and there were set up for future arcs from other people's suggestions. Be warned though, while I'll try to incorporate all your ideas as best I can, I can't get them all in there, not unless I span an hour in front of a chalkboard.**

 **Anyways. please Review! It fills my muse, and please point out any mistakes or your thoughts on any chapter!**


	6. Chapter 6

Furuichi stumbled into his living room drearily. He blinked back the spots in his eyes and dragged himself to sit at the table for breakfast. "Good morning Honoka," Furuichi greeted as he rubbed his eyes.

After the fight he had headed straight home and fell asleep while Lamia treated him for the poison. He had slept like a log and his body was a little bit stiff with all the demonic energy that's been in him recently - it was almost as bad as when he first started using the tissues.

Turning to his sister, he was confused to see Honoka standing uncomfortably in the kitchen. Tilting his head, Furuichi greeted Lamia, who was standing over the stove cooking something. "Good morning, Lamia," Furuichi said as he rested his cheek on his palm.

He thought back to his fight with the two Exorcists, and that one rogue. The fights he had been in so far were pretty easy, but Furuichi understood the universal murphy's law better than anyone. There were definitely stronger people out there, like Satan or Lucifer. This was the Supernatural world after all, who knows the things he might be forced to fight. Then this business with these Fallen Angels, he'd fought enough of them in Ishiyama by himself and his soul got split into three because of it! Like hell he wanted to fight the real deal.

Bah! Nevermind, he just wanted to enjoy his breakfast with his sister and Lamia, hopefully without that creepy old bastard Alaindelon. Speaking of his little sister, she had stepped up to him and was staring at him with a complicated expression. Furuichi scrunched his face up, wondering why she was looking at him like that.

"Nii-san what were you doing yesterday at school?" Honoka asked as she glanced back at Lamia at the stove. Furuichi grabbed the back of his head as he stared at her, wondering why she was suddenly curious.

"Just an after-school activity, nothing serious. Though it did get a little bit rough," Furuichi muttered, still a little bit droopy from the morning. He made sure to omit any mention of the Supernatural world as he stared at Lamia cooking, wishing for the food to be one sooner.

"Rough you say?" Honoka muttered quietly.

"Yea, but then I got back and Lamia was able to help me out," Furuichi said as he felt sleepiness try and overtake him again. A loud smack later and Furuichi was wide awake as he slammed face first into the floor. "H-Honoka-chan why!"

The older brother sprang to his feet, a glaring red mark on his cheek as he stared at his sister. To his surprise she pried Lamia off the stove, who responded with a loud yelp and a short struggle, before Honoka dragged them to the front door. "Nii-san you have to stop this! No matter what she's still a little girl. Mom and dad may be fine with keeping quite about it but I'm not! I heard you groaning last night and thumping against the headboard doing 'this' and 'that', and it's just disgusting!"

"E-eeeehhhh!" Furuichi screeched, looking at his sister with wide uncomprehending eyes. "W-what! You're getting the wrong idea Honoka! You're Nii-san isn't some loli bastard!" Furuichi yelled, eyes flashing with indignation. Now that he thought about he was groaning last night because of Lamia forcing him to be as stiff as a board and the banging noises were probably from Lamia kicking him throughout the night.

"G-get real!" Furuichi yelled, "Even if your Nii-san was having sex at this age, it'd be with a beautiful bishoujo and not a kid like her! Don't you understand the tastes of your older brother." Furuichi's loud exclamation brought the exact opposite effect and Honoka stared at him with absolute disgust, and even Lamia had stopped struggling to give him the stink eye.

"That's it! I'm taking her and going straight for the police office!" Honoka declared, causing Furuichi to grab his chest in horror.

"Lamia, wait, stop her! You can't let this happen!" Furuichi begged Lamia. The pinkette stared at him, and humphed while glancing away. In shock, Furuichi dropped to the ground, staring at the two girls. "No, Lamia this isn't funny. I'll go to jail! Do you know what happens to those in hail?! I'm too pretty! You know what waits for me? The soap! It's the soap on the floor!"

Honoka looked at Furuichi with sympathy. "I'm sorry Nii-san but I want what's best for you, and this is absolutely detestable!" With her piece said Honoka disappeared through the front door, closing it with a sharp bang.

While that happened, Furuichi was crawling on all fours looking completely stunned at wha happened. Indeed, if this was a drama, then Furuichi would look like a cheating husband who had been caught by his wife and was now left alone; except this wasn't a drama and this one was far more pitiful.

"My, it seems my evening network came early today," Alaindelon commented as he stood idly by the corners.

"Shut it you!" Furuichi demanded as he sprang straight up to his feet. "And where were you! I could have used your help in my own defence you know!"

Alaindelon shook his head as he tilted his cheek against his palm, "I had to spent time in the restroom to spruce up. You don't stay this handsome without effort you know!"

"Die!" Furuichi yelled as he punched him in the face. The transport demon spluttered at the strike, even though it didn't really hurt him. "Now that I think about it was you that got my family thinking I was a perverted dude who knocked dirty old men like you! Then every started calling me a lolicon! Shit, I have to clear up this misunderstanding!" Furuichi quickly ran to his closet and pulled his closet door open.

Grunting at only seeing the Military uniforms of the Pillar Squad, Furuichi quickly strapped on the piece of clothing and marched out with hurried steps. Alaindelon was curled up in the corner with a blush on his face while Furuichi rushed out the door to clear the misunderstanding his little sister had of him and scolding Lamia for her petty behaviour that could have gotten him in jail.

If you squint very hard you might find a good drama, but as it stood right now the whole situation barely passed for a romcom. Hell, it was more like a sitcom now.

He rushed down to ground floor, not bothering to take the elevator, and sped out of the building like a bat out of hell. As he ran, he went through the quickest route he could remember to the police station since he got here. Some people were giving him odd glances, of course since he looked like a soldier and he was sprinting through half the town.

He slowed down when he noticed some of Gremory's peerage nearby. The Issei boy and the girl Koneko. He only had a moment to wonder why they were there when he ran into something, causing him to teeter and fall. Grimacing at the pain on his butt Furuichi glanced upwards to find a familiar looking brown-haired girl rubbing her bottom in front of him, a bag of groceries discarded next to her.

She looked up at him, and then a spark of recognition pulsed through her eyes. Furuichi scrunched his face up in confusion, not knowing where he had seen her before. Her hairstyle was slightly distinct, with her hair tied up into a functional bun at the top of her head, and her eyes were wide across her rather small face. He racked his mind to find a connection, then he saw the red ribbon tied around her neck, and the familiar St. Ishiyama school uniform.

"You're that announcer chick from St. Ishiyama!" Furuichi exclaimed.

"You're that pervy dude from that shy awkward couple!" Furuna yelled, indicating the time he had joined St. Ishiyama's Christmas event for the best couple alongside Oomori. Furuichi face faulted, arms clenched as she had so easily brush past him.

"Hey! I'm Oga's #2! I'm the General Furuichi from Ishiyama the delinquent school! Not just some pervy dude!" Furuichi shot back, exasperated at his frankly sullied reputation.

Furuna blinked, cupped her chin, then shook her head. "Sorry never heard of you," she said casually. The male grabbed his heart, his eyes sparkling between tears of regret and a glare of teenage angst.

"Well then who are you!" Furuichi grounded out, annoyed that he was still not recognised even with his new current position.

"Taeko Furuna," she introduced herself proudly as she pressed a hand against her chest, "You should know who I am right?" She looked proudly at Furuchi, but her face faltered when she saw the uncomprehending eyes as he crossed his arms with a frown.

"Never heard of you," Furuichi muttered, "Why, should I?"

Now it was the girls turn to grab her heart as she glared at Furuichi with a burned professional pride. "I'm a celebrity in these parts! An MC! I'm an announcer! How can you not know me?!"

Furuichi sweatdropped, "Being an MC doesn't really make you a celebrity. Rather than that you're a school student, so it's far too much for you to call yourself a celebrity, I thought you were the straight woman!"

"I am!" She screeched, "You think the Five Knights are able to keep their whacko dialogue in check? I keep the readers informed!"

"What readers?! Ishiyama is the main setting!" A number walked by the two shouting teens, some whispering about the boisterousness of youth, others just annoyed with the noise so early in the morning.

Furuna took a breather from her verbal slugging match with Furuichi to glance down at her watch and faltered at the time. "Woah, I've spent too long here! I have to get back," she said as she picked up her groceries and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

Furuichi looked confused, "Go where? Isn't St. Ishiyama really far away from here?"

Furuna clicked her tongue, "I'm visiting my grandmother, now please, excuse me." As politely as she could she walked briskly past Furuichi and headed straight to wherever it was she was heading to. Furuichi watched her go, taking a moment to appreciate her legs/skirt, and then suddenly remembered why he was out there to begin with.

Furuichi grabbed his head in frustration before sighing in defeat. "I'll deal with it later," he muttered. "What is wrong with my morning." Furuichi thought about whether or not he should return home but knew that even if Honoka got into any trouble, Lamia would be more than enough to keep her safe. She carried a gun that was loaded with a bunch of stuff too, so him worrying too much might be out of place.

However his moment of silent deliberation was cut off when two of Gremory's peerage stepped into his line of sight. Issei Hyoudou gave him a worried glance while Koneko Tojo was staring at him blandly. "Lieutenant-san," the boy muttered nervously, "What was that just now?"

Furuichi sweatdropped, "Just a small chat with me and an acquaintance." Issei didn't seem to believe that for a moment and Furuichi tried to come up with a better argument.

"Couple spat," muttered Koneko. Both boys seemed surprised by what Koneko had said and each had the exact opposite reactions. Furuichi nearly crumpled in on himself at the thought of being in a couple's spat with that girl, while Issei was looking at him with contemptuous jealousy.

"I guess even ranks play a part and not just looks," he commented. The hell does that mean?! Furuichi was a handsome man! There was no doubt in that! He had female fans too damn it!

"What are the two of you doing here anyways," Furuichi asked, trying to keep his voice civil. Apparently it worked.

"Ah, we're just looking around. Koneko wanted to buy something and asked me to follow her," Issei said.

"Then why is Saji-kun here too," Furuichi asked.

"Eh?"

"The frozen blonde kid behind you." Indeed, Furuichi had realised that Saji had frozen up behind Issei the moment that boy had lifted his arm to scratch his neck, thereby giving Saji the chance to realise that Furuichi was standing. "Furthermore, is it fine for a member of a devil's peerage to associate themselves with a member from another peerage?" It was obvious that ever since Furuichi had been singled out as a member of a demon army that Saji, and a small extension Issei, started getting nervous around him. Which was understandable, of course.

"U-uh, I just came to see how you guys were doing. As a member of the student council its my job to make sure they don't get into trouble," Saji informed him as the blonde haired kid wrapped an arm around Issei's neck. Furuichi cupped his chin as he thought about it.

"Then why did you meet the Exorcists from yesterday?" Furuichi asked. He could smell the soft lavender of that Irina girl and the scented candles from that Xenovia one on Issei and Koneko. Worthy of the name Creepichi, Furuichi had memorised the smell distinct to the two women in record time. Not that he would admit with any admission of pride.

"H-how?" Both the boys cried out in shock, staring at him as though they should be wary of any secrets they had hidden. Though they had nothing to worry about, Furuichi had no interest in those fields.

"Were you able to sense the residual Holy energy after our meeting with them," whispered Koneko in shock. Not wanting to disclose his real reason, Furuichi gave a hesitant nod. Her eyes widened further and she took a step back, as though suddenly fearful of Furuichi. He didn't get the reaction but nodded his head anyways.

"Something like that," Furuichi muttered, it was more like those girls scents had already been heavy to begin with. "But why _were_ you with them anyways? I'd imagine either Sona-Kaichou and Gremory-san would be more inclined to invite them to either the Student Council room or the Occult Research Club room." It was a common power play in Ishiyama; that is, to never go to those you wish to bargain or meet with, and instead invite them over to your turf where you hold all the power.

"N-no reason whatsoever!" Issei quickly stuttered, and Furuichi immediately knew he was lying. Again, his experiences in Ishiyama were more than enough for him to know when someone felt like they were being backed into a corner, and considering what they thought of Furuichi, that was probably the likeliest scenario that they had felt they had entered.

"Does this have something to do with Kiba-san?" Immediately their faces faltered, revealing their intentions with their gazes. Furuichi felt the need to slap his forehead, but knew that he had gone through similar troubles with Oga; even if his help was rarely needed. Finally Furuichi shook his head, physically telling them they needn't tell him. They looked concerned, probably thinking that he was going to reprimand them but Furuichi just gave them, what he hoped at least, to be a cool smile. "Don't worry, I won't stop you and I'm guessing you're so worried about this because you haven't told your masters. While I won't lie to the sisters of the Maous, I won't report it in either. At least not now."

The group of three glanced at each other, and then nodded shakily. Issei looked at him with thankful eyes. "Thank you Lieutenant-san!" The boy made a small bow, not enough to warrant any attention from a passersby but enough to show his deepest thanks to Furuichi. The white-haired kid tried to stop himself from doing anything embarrassing, like puffing out his chest and grabbing his hips in a grand gesture, and instead nodded slightly with an uncomfortable expression.

"Could it be?! Lieutenant-san are actually a very humble person who doesn't appreciate praise but is in a position of power," Saji exclaimed in shock. Now Furuichi couldn't help the expression of disbelief that appeared on his face as both Issei and Saji looked at him in some new sort of light.

Don't push 'hero' stereotypes onto him like this. While Furuichi secretly relished the idea of being regarded in such a wholesome light, he'd rather not have it done by two people who had a harem, or really anyone that reminded him of his own lacklustre love life. Instead, Furuichi turned his back on them and waved a hand over his shoulder. "I'm returning home!" He said hastily and ran away. That only seemed to elevate his status in their eyes as they received 'proof' of his apparent 'humbleness'.

Furuichi managed to find a safe alleyway and nearly choked when he remembered about his sister and wayward little shrimp of a doctor. "Either way I can't just leave them out here," he decided. Then sighed, needing to rely on someone he'd rather not after what happened in the morning.

"Alaindelon," he whispered, in self-agony now that he talked about it. Then the old man appeared, in all of his sleeveless shirt and boxer glory and, no matter how you play it he just looked like a middle-aged pervert.

"Takayuki-dono, no matter the case, I alone know the true affairs of your heart," the man muttered, and Furuichi suspected he enjoyed the slow moments of suffering he caused on his Tsukkomi side.

"Don't say things like that with a straight face you old coot!" The man blinked and then laughed softly to himself, which pretty much confirmed his suspicions. "Take me to Lamia and Honoka, and don't do anything weird!" He ordered. Nodding to show he understood, but his expression still mirthful, he opened up his body for Furuichi and damn if that wasn't such a weird thing to think out.

Finally, with one last wish to have Alaindelon's daughter in his place, Furuichi rushed forward and jumped into the body. Then, he appeared to find himself falling fast first into the hard ground, and immediately pulled his hands forward to stave off the hit. His King's Crest glowed slightly in exertion and Furuichi managed to launch himself into the air to land on his feet, though clumsily. He hit the ground with some force but not enough to knock the wind out of him, and he stared at his new surroundings with a frown.

He was in a wide spacious room, with old tinted glass windows wrapping around the place covered in dirt and grime. Not only that but it had a high ceiling and there was a conveyer belt nearby, meaning he had appeared in some factory or some sort. "Alaindelon, I said take me to Lamia and Honoka not some random place like here."

But to his surprise he found that Alaindelon's face had taken a slight edge to it, so serious and full of chiseled fury. "Takayuki-dono, it is indeed true that I have brought you to where I have sensed Lamia's signature. However, it seems another presence had captured her and your sister."

Furuichi seemed confused by what he said before hearing the fluttering of wings above him. Surprised Furuichi brought his hands up to shield him from the sudden blast of wind and looked up in shock as a black-winged man slowly descended into view from the ceiling.

"My, the infamous Alaindelon has arrived I see? Your sensing abilities are indeed no joke, for you to be able to sense me in such close proximity with my wards active," the man said.

"Kokabiel, I see you have made yourself known. I knew that I sensing dark feathers about, never realised it was you. Had I known, I'd have been more prepared," Alaindelon muttered. Furuichi was shocked to say the least; this was a Fallen-Angel? With all his time spent with so many powerful demons, it was particularly jarring for him to suddenly encounter a Fallen-Angel, a powerful one if Furuichi could judge the level of strength the winged man before him exuded.

"Yes, the famed sensor that had killed so many of my brethren so long ago in that grand war. I see you have retired from your post, the Southern Fortress has lost an invaluable Commander." Kokabiel was laughing to himself. Furuichi was even further shell-shocked; realising that this old perverted man was actually somebody famous, but no matter how Furuichi looked he was still an old perverted man! Even with the serious face, in fact that made him more creepy!

"Why are you here, Kokabiel? I doubt it is revenge against me killing your garrison when they assaulted Makai all those years ago," Alaindelon said. Furuichi shook his head, and remembered Kokabiel's name in the meeting between Gremory-san and the Exorcists.

"He's here with the ones that stole the Excaliburs from the Christians!" Furuichi informed him, and immediately Alaindelon adopted a grave expression.

"The Excaliburs? Do you seek the start a war, Kokabiel? Reclaim the glory? The death? Have you forgotten the many lives of your brothers and sisters massacred by Michael? Or by me?" kokabiel laughed as he rose higher in the sky.

"Yes! The death, the blood, the war! I wish to start it all over again, so I can show that coward Azazel, that Fallen-Angels truly are the best beings in the world and I will take pleasure in ending you for the lives of my men Alaindelon!" Kokabiel yelled.

"Enough of this!" Furuichi yelled, looking at the both of them like they were crazy. His life was full of battle-horny people. Sadly, he was beginning to realise he couldn't shake them off. "Where is my sister!"

At that, Kokabiel produced the two chained forms of his younger sister and Lamia, and by the looks of things, both of them were slightly roughed up. "What have you done to them!" Furuichi yelled.

Kokabiel sneered at him, "Nothing you impudent human. The pink-haired one merely resisted, so I decided to rough them up a bit before taking them with me, if only for them to be silent as I waited for you and that bastard there."

"Why, Kokabiel?" Alaindelon asked, "What does hurting them give you?"

With a wide smile, Kokabiel pointed to Furuichi who looked on in stunned surprise. "Him. I admit, I had not expected a Pillar to be here, and for him to be human showed that he is of exceptional strength. I may not have done battle with Jabberwock, but indeed his father Behemoth was a fearsome opponent. Now boy, both of you, if you wish to retrieve these girls from harm, then come at me with the best you have. Or all of you will die!"

Kokabiel launched a light spear towards Furuichi, and the silver-haired boy widened his eyes as the light blinded him, and the next to thing he knew he was flying through the air.

 **So I am BACK! Anyways, a few thoughts on this chapter. Not a lot happened, some little filler moments, that will play off...eventually, and a little showing of Kokabiel. Now, Kokabiel would obviously be concerned with a Pillar member interrupting his plan. While he could care less about the Exorcists, if a Pillar member was assisting in the search for Excalibur, and actually succeeded to take it, that would be troublesome to his overall plan. Not only that, but attacking and kill the two, while pointing fingers to the Angels or Exorcists, could incite a war as well.**

 **About the thing with Alaindelon. I always like to think that Alaindelon was more than what he showed, because both Hilda and Lamia show him a modicum of respect, though they were still pretty irregular when they showed it. Either way, I liked the concept of Alaindelon being some big, bad soldier in the past then devolving to this old coot after the war and the Devil Civil War. This guy fought through two different wars, so it wasn't really out of the blue. Plus, I'm guessing he** _ **is**_ **old enough to have been able to live through it, I mean, the Four Maous did, or at least I assume they did, and Alaindelon looks a hell of a lot older than them.**

 **Anyways, WDO345 signing off!**


	7. Chapter 7

Furuichi gritted his teeth as stinging pain burned through his body as he hit the ground. His King's Crest burned brightly as it sapped energy from Oga, who was no doubt still in Ishiyama. Flexing his arm, Furuichi stared at his bruised and cut arms, realising that his right arm would have snapped into two had he not jump backwards instinctively from the initial blast.

A large war cry filled the air and Furuichi was able to see that Alaindelon had produced a spear from nowhere, and at the tip where the blade was, a circle filled with runic formulas and the Lord of the Flies crest appeared. Almost like a gattling gun, small flashes of Demonic Energy shot out and impacted Kokabiel, though the Fallen-Angel seemed to not be fazed by his efforts. "Come now Alaindelon! You're insulting me!" More Light Spears were thrown and belying his age, Alaindelon had managed to dodge the attack with a roll and he immediately dashed towards Furuichi, tossing him his packet of tissues.

"Alaindelon?!" Furuichi cried in shock as he grabbed the packet from the air, but Alaindelon chose to ignore him as he rounded the length of the warehouse again, just barely dodging the Light Spears chasing after him. Knowing that Alaindelon couldn't possibly match against Kokabiel, Furuichi stuffed the tissues into his nose thinking about any Pillar Baron that could help out.

He felt a surge of Demonic Energy fill up his body, encompassing his form and healing his cuts and bruises. Furuichi blinked and turned to see who exactly he had summoned and was surprised to see Naga stand there, an indifferent scowl on his face as he crossed his arms. "It is you Lieutenant. I am not surprise, but to think that you are doing battle with a Fallen-Angel," Naga muttered the last part as he watch Alaindelon fire Demonic Bullet after Demonic Bullet at the disgraced Angel.

"Come down and fight me Kokabiel," Alaindelon demanded, "Indulge this old soldier the same way your subordinates did all those years ago!" With a growl, Kokabiel suspended both Honoka and Lamia in the air using Light Powers and produced a Light Sword in his hands.

"It would be wise if you refrain from speaking ill of my kin!" Kokabiel yelled as he swung the blade at Alaindelon, but in a surprising action, the transportation demon teleported himself behind Kokabiel and struck out with his Spear. Kokabiel dodged and hey engaged in deadly combat, Alaindelon having better reach with his Spear while Kokabiel had more power with his swing.

"Naga I need your help," Furuichi asked of him, staring at Alaindelon who was obviously struggling to keep up with the fast paced and brutal motions of his enemy. "There's no way we can beat Kokabiel without you."

Naga shook his head gravely, "I doubt we would win even with me here. Either way, I will lend you my strength but I can only use so much." Then, Naga entered Furuichi's body, influencing his mind and delving deep inside the strings of control that jingled freely in the back of his head.

Furuichi felt his eyes dilate and then refocus on the Fallen-Angel. His arms, now healed and all better, clenched as he swept his eye across his surrounding. Nothing, but he could make due with nothing, and with a flick of a wrist magical formulas came to life all across the floor, attracting Alaindelon's attention.

" **Get ready**!" Furuichi commanded, his voice now as smooth as a river and as riveting as a song. A smooth tempo that represented his determination and resolve to save his sister and his little friend. " **Do not look down on the Pillar Squad!** "

Furuichi slammed his palms together, making an enclosed fist, and a magical circle appeared in front of Naga. The Lord of the Flies mark was etched on it, but at its borders were several different formulas, each Furuichi had gained an extensive knowledge of. Theoretical formulas and complex algorithms streamed past his mind - the mind that Naga was sharing with him - and he displayed impressive skill in manipulating them to increase the power output without sacrificing the speed. With a loud yell, Furuichi fired a blast of energy, about the size of a basketball, that arced through the air in near blinding speeds.

Kokabiel reared back and brought his Light Sword to dodge, but Alaindelon thrust forward with his Spear at Kokabiel's back. The Fallen-Angel parried it and had to spread his wings in order to dodge the incoming blast, blasting away from the blast.

But the Demonic Bullet instead bounced off a circle of magic on the wall of the warehouse. Furuichi didn't let up and fired five more similarly sized Demonic Bullets, and in seconds the warehouse turned into what could be defined as a pinball with no end. The Bullets zig-zagged every which way, almost always deflecting back towards Kokabiel who was deftly avoiding them with the skill expected of one of Grigori's leaders.

"You can launch more, can't you?" Alaindelon asked Furuichi as he fired his own set of bullets to add to the attack.

" **I could, but I would risk destroying the warehouse and harming Honoka and Lamia. I can't use too much magic either, or I risk damaging my body,** " Furuichi muttered as he brought his arm back. Naga wasn't an amazing hand-to-hand specialist as his talents lie in his magic abilities, of which Kokabiel was more than expert enough to dispel or destroy. " **We are in a bad position, even at full strength I cannot hope to match someone of Kokabiel's calibre.** " Furuichi could see Alaindelon's eyes tighten in agreement.

"Watch out!" A flash of Light zippered past Furuichi's head and the Lieutenant backflipped away while Alaindelon reengaged the Fallen-Angel. "I will give you all I have Kokabiel!" He screamed but both of the Devils in the warehouse (half a Devil for Furuichi) knew that Kokabiel was holding back, by a lot. The Fallen-Angel seemed to be relishing the feeling and high gained from battle, especially after so long an absence. Alaindelon was a mastered spearman, Furuichi decided, as he watched the old coot expertly glide his long weapon to strike at wherever Kokabiel could not defend, and maintaining the minimum distance from the enemy to make sure he didn't lose power in his swing.

A display of skill from his companion, one Furuichi felt compelled to meet. Magical formulas appeared around him, swirling circles with Beelzebub's seal, and all shining a deep blood red. " **I will not be outdone by an old man!** ' Furuichi yelled as fire spewed forth from the magic seal, coalescing together to form the image of an eastern dragon, fueled and fed by the wind magic that Furuichi summoned around it.

Kokabiel twisted and grinned at the construct of fire heading towards him. He pushed back Alaindelon and then turned to cast his own furious Light to meet the deadly beast. With a swing of his Light Sword, a large arc of Holy Power was sent and had smashed against the snout of the Dragon.

It wobbled, shaking slightly, before falling and dissipating into nothingness. With that done, Kokabiel ignored Alaindelon completely and raced to meet Furuichi. The Lieutenant braced and brought forth three layers of barriers to protect him. With a swing of his sword, Kokabiel had demolished through one layer, and nearly drained the second from all its strength. "For a simple flick of my wrist, I certainly broke through your defences quite easily!" Kokabiel laughed as he bypassed the last barrier and backhanded Furuichi.

He skidded off the ground, a loud thud sound echoing down the warehouse, and only just barely managed to land on his feet. "You are too weak for me!" Kokabiel yelled and lunged forward with his sword. Furuichi dodged, Naga's sharp self-preservation and combat experience taking over, and he sent a sharp punch at Kokabiel's cheek. It was caught and Kokabiel nearly twisted his arm into a spiral had Furuichi not sent a Demonic enhanced kick in between his legs. Furuichi jumped backwards, getting as much distance as he could manage away from the Fallen-Angel.

" **I'm almost at my limit,** " he muttered, " **I don't have the martial expertise to continue this, and too much magic and my body will break down**." Furuichi turned to look at Honoka and Lamia dangling from the ceiling, and Alaindelon scaling the wall with two knives trying to reach them. " **Wha?** "

Following his eyes, Kokabiel realised that Alaindelon was already nearing the two captives. With a growl he launched a Light Spear, going faster than Furuichi could track, and nearly swiped Alaindelon out of the air had he not leapt the remaining distance.

He managed to catch Honoka but with incredible speed, Kokabiel had ate up the distance between them and connected a heel to the transport Demon's chest. "Ugh!" He grunted as he was launched away.

" **Alaindelon, take Honoka and run!** " Furuichi ordered.

"As you wish - oof!" Alaindelon replied as he landed roughly on his feet. With a flash, the Demon had already disappeared with Honoka and Furuichi coiled his fingers as he stared at Kokabiel.

" **No holding back,** " he said resolutely. Taking a stance, with his hands clasped in front of his face, Furuichi summoned a dozen magical seals in front of him. Then he created four more layers in quick succession.

"Oh, ho?" Kokabiel said with a pleasant smile, "I see, I see. Well come down, send your best attack!" Furuichi frowned, Naga's pride seeping through on his face as he twisted his face into venomous fury.

" **I'll wipe that smirk off your face!** " With a yell, all the seals released a plethora of Demonic Beams that pierced straight through the darkness of the warehouse. Before the beam hit, all Furuichi could hear past the loud roar of his attack, was Kokabiel laughing in amusement. And he already knew the answer to his attack, even before it met the Fallen-Angel. " **Shit**."

The next few seconds blended together to become a century in Furuichi's eyes. With a flick of his wrist, Kokabiel had slapped the concentrated beam of energy away and redirected it at the side of the warehouse. A blinding white light shined from the impact of the blast, nearly taking away Furuichi's vision as he took a reflexive step back. But just as the tip of his boot meet the floor, a resounding crack filled the air as two of his ribcage snapped with his breath disappearing from his lungs. The impact was forceful enough that it forced his tissues out of his nose, forcing Naga out of his body and leaving him completely at the mercy of his mortal injuries without Demonic Energy to heal it. "Gah!" Furuichi croaked, just a nano-second before he slammed back first into the ground, skipping against the ground to land painfully at the end of the warehouse fifteen metres away from his last position.

"Hmph," Kokabiel grunted as he steadied his stance on the ground. "It seems whatever contract you've signed has been met, or forcibly cancelled." He made an annoyed sound as he floated back up to the pinkette still dangling unconscious at the ceiling. "A heavy sleeper isn't she," he commented in amusement, "I won't kill you, yet. Killing you in your pathetic human state would have no meaning, not even as a martyr. Gather yourself, little Pillar, and you'll find our next meeting come sooner than you imagine."

"Wait!" Furuichi said, forcing himself to crawl towards Kokabiel. "Give...Lamia...back," he crumpled with his last exertion, hands clenching to stave off the pain springing to life around him.

Kokabiel laughed as he hauled Lamia up by her dangling chain, "If you want her, then beat me. It's that simple little boy, but it's not like you can." With his piece said, both Kokabiel and Lamia disappeared into the wind. Furuichi grinded his teeth together, pulling his arm forward and resting it under his chin as he stared where the two had previously occupied.

"Go to...hell," he cursed, even as his other arm managed to pull another set of tissues up and place them into his nose. "I don't care who you are, just heal me." Afterwards, his eyes closed and he fell forward, losing himself to his exhaustion.

XXXXXXXX

Furuichi felt his eyelids slowly, but surely, part as he took in the light of his bedroom. He could hear voices in the living room, all of which belonged to people he knew. "He's been asleep for three days, and he was practically almost dead. Ten broken bones, cracked ribs, and suffering from near blood loss! I don't care how much energy Elim put into casting that healing spell, no human would have survived that!" Furuichi recognised the voice as Tiriel, the swordswoman that wore that gothic lolita dress under her uniform. Carefully, Furuichi pushed his aching muscles and limbs off his bed, grimacing at hearing joints snap after full days of unused, and slowly made his way to his bedroom door.

"Furuichi is tougher than you think. He's survived worse by Oga's side, and he will survive this." That was Hecadoth's voice. Huh, glad to know the Demon actually thought so highly of him. But even so, Furuichi would rather he not speak about his time with Oga so freely like that. With a grunt of effort, Furuichi pushed his door open and stumbled into the living room, eyeing the Demons who were lounging on his couch and carpet with abandon.

"Hey, you guys. I get that you're having an important meeting, but couldn't you at least throw your rubbish away?" Furuichi mumbled. Indeed, all around Agiel were several discarded potato chip packets and canned drinks, with Hecadoth still chewing on a pop tart in his seat. Tiriel made a dismissive gesture and plopped down on a seat, staring at him in mild appraisal.

"It's your apartment, we have no obligation to clean it," she replied easily. A tick mark formed on Furuichi's forehead as he glared at the haughty swordswoman.

"Excuse me! You're a guest! Didn't your mother teach you any manners, guests don't barge in and make a mess of things without even offering to clean up!" He pointed an accusatory finger at the swordswoman, who shrugged it off like it was a tap on the shoulder. "I'm going to - agh!" He couldn't finish his sentence as pain shot out from his right arm. He grabbed in desperation, hoping to ease whatever pain that had taken hold of him, and frowned as he stared at his arm. There was a scar traveling down his right arm, trailing all the way to his chest.

"A gift from Kokabiel," Hecadoth answered the unspoken question, "Elim did her best when you summoned her, but even she has her limits." The Demon stood up and carefully maneuvered around the pained young boy, hands hovering over Furuichi as he dropped down to his knees next to him. "Alaindelon has informed us of most of what has happened, the three of us have been sent to provide as much assistance as we possibly can, though I doubt we can actually be able to stop Kokabiel with our powers and ability," Hecadoth informed him.

"We can beat him, in the end of the day he's nothing more than a filthy Fallen-Angel," Tiriel muttered in disgust.

"No," Furuichi grunted. Hecadoth helped him up and placed him on the seat as Agiel quietly nibbled on her remaining potato chips. "Kokabiel is much stronger and faster than most of the Pillar Squad. It'd need a direct intervention from either Jabberwock or Behemoth to be able to stop him."

Tiriel looked like she was about to retort before Agiel broke it down for her, "Naga has already told us the same thing, and you don't mean to say bad to a Pillar Barons word, do you Tiriel?" Agiel's voice was light and sweet, as thought tempting the woman to say otherwise. She growled low in her throat, and glared at the bikini-clad swordswoman.

"What will we do?" Furuichi asked, staring unblinkingly at Hecadoth. "He had Lamia, I don't have any intention of leaving her with that rat bastard any longer!" He declared vehemently, surprising Agiel and Hecadoth who knew him the longest. Despite the atmosphere in the air, both the Pillars couldn't help but chuckle at his proclamation.

"Hey! Hey! I can be chivalrous and honorable too you know?!" Furuichi said in annoyance.

"Where? In the female bathhouse?" Agiel laughed as she stared at Furuichi, who humphed and stared at Tiriel as though searching for hope. The woman only smiled at him and shrugged her shoulders, making him sigh insufferably. "Anyway," Agiel began, "We've already informed Asmodeus-sama of what has happened, sadly, if Kokabiel really does do something that warrants a declaration of war, then the Four Maous wouldn't be able to stand against it, as they would lose public opinion. That's why we're here, to help in keeping the security."

"Why aren't the Pillar Barons here?" Furuichi asked, "No offence, but they're way stronger than you guys." All three of the Demons frowned, and Furuichi was afraid he had said something wrong, before Hecadoth sighed.

"When you were fighting Kokabiel, the Old Maou faction had attacked the Northern Fort, likely to draw us out and occupy us with battle. Right now, we are unsure of what exactly is going on, but if it does come to anything, then the Pillar Barons have been placed under standby. While this may sound harsh, as Demons, our loyalty lies to Makai and Underworld than on Earth," he explained. Furuichi frowned, unable to accept such reasoning but understanding the logicality of it.

"What about Honoka, what happened to her?" Furuichi asked, genuinely afraid for his sister.

Tiriel spoke first before the other two could answer, "She'd out buying whatever humans buy," she said dismissively, "We were able to erase most of her memories from her encounter with Kokabiel."

Furuichi frowned, "Most?" He didn't like the sound of that, in fact, it brought an uneasy feeling in his gut as he stared nervously between Hecadoth and Agiel. "What does she mean by both."

Hecadoth crossed his arms and grunted, looking vaguely nervous himself, "Look,

most memory-erasing spells only touch the surface, meaning the most recent memories are the easiest for us Demons to erase from a person's mind. However," he gestured his hands in the air, "there are exceptions."

"Such as," Furuichi prodded. Hecadoth mulled over what he was going to say before nodding to himself when he seemed to have his thoughts in order.

"Traumatic experiences, for one; and it's what your sister is experiencing. Sometimes, humans undergo an experience too traumatic for them, which can be due to a number of reasons such as age, health, general psychological mindset or mental fortitude - and the result of this is that they repress their memories of these events, to shield themselves from what they saw."

"In other words," Tiriel interrupted, "Your sister buried her encounter with Kokabiel into her mind, away from the reach of the memory erasing spell, and thus, there is a chance that she'll remember what happened to her."

"What?!" Furuichi yelled in alarm. This was his sister! His cute little imouto-chan, even though she saw him as a lolicon pervert, but Furuichi would never hope to see his sister experiencing emotional hurt to such a degree. Heaven knew his first experience in encountering a Devil, his entire room was destroyed and he had to pay for the repairs _and_ do it himself!

"It's a slim chance," Hecadoth quickly amended, shooting Tiriel a glare. "If she doesn't come across anything that can trigger a reaction for her, she'll be fine to the dangerous memories she has in her head."

Furuichi looked at Hecadoth suspiciously, but in the end conceded with a nod. "Alright," he said finally, "but I'll need something more concrete than 'a slim chance' next time we talk about this, Hecadoth." The Pillar General raised an eyebrow at his tone, but smiled and nodded when Furuichi didn't waver his expression. Unknown to him, Furuichi was actually stoneface because his face muscles were constricting in pain because he had accidentally slumped his back too far, causing it to stiffen.

"With that said, we'll have to prepare for a -" Just then, Alaindelon rushed into the room and stopped Hecadoth mid-sentence. The old coot turned to them, the steel-like gaze he held in the warehouse suddenly more apparent on his face at such a closer distance. Furuichi was surprised to see this man stand in the place of the old coot, but again, he was wearing nothing but a sleeveless top and pink boxers; the old coot.

"There was a spike in energy at Kuoh Academy," Alaindelon, "It's Kokabiel, and two Priests. The Holy Energy in the air almost has me grabbing my nose in disgust."

Agiel shot to her feet, her eyes opening wide at the sudden declaration, but Furuichi was able to tell that she was excited. _Very_ excited, and he was concerned, and a little bit happy, to see that she was a little bit turned on at the thought of the coming fight. For a quick moment Furuichi lapped his eyes over her body, before a sharp kick from Tiriel snapped him back to the present. "Oogle later, Douche," she muttered, staring at him in sharp disgust.

"So soon?" Hecadoth stated, "We only got her yesterday!"

"We must move quickly," Alaindelon stated, "I can already feel that Gremory-sama and Sitri-sama have gathered their peerage and have assembled at the entrance of Kuoh Academy, prepared to do battle with Kokabiel!"

Hecadoth nodded and turned to Furuichi, a slightly apologetic look on his face as he tossed the boy a packet of tissues. "I'm sorry, but right now, we need all the help we can get." Furuichi grimaced as he stared at the packet, before quickly shoving a pair into his nose. Almost immediately, Furuichi felt a rush of Demonic Energy flow through him and tried to force Jabberwock to the forefront of his mind. But the presence that popped up wasn't the Pillar Leader, but it was close enough in Furuichi's opinion.

"Oh," Kirin, the blind member of Jabberwock's personal detail, muttered. "And to think I would be bored today as I watched the Generals play war with the Old Maous."

 **I tried to make the fight with Kokabiel interesting while still making it believable. Kokabiel wants a war, and fighting Alaindelon and a member of the Pillars is nostalgic to him, so he partook in a little bit of fun as he played with them, but even then Kokabiel has the ability to bring some damage. Even if Vali had beaten him, Vali is ridiculously strong, and Issei had been beaten because he was still inexperienced. So Kokabiel is somewhere in the middle ground in terms of power between the big bad bosses.**

 **I tried to add in a few jokes, make it still lighthearted enough for a Beelzebub fanfic, but that kind of soured a little bit, sorry about that. This'll just have to be serious for a while before it returns back to the lighthearted side comedy side, that still follows plot. Also, we get to learn the limitations of Furuichi's body in regards to Demonic Energy, and of course, he'll have to rectify these problems soon.**


	8. Chapter 8

Lamia puffed out her cheeks as she was left to dangle on a piece of chain above Kuoh Academy. When she had agreed to follow Furuichi towards this area of Japan to ensure he wouldn't get hurt, she had expected herself to mainly stay around his house and fix his bones when he needed help. But why was she being used as a damsel in distress! What a cheap and overused plot point.

She grumbled quietly to herself as she stared at the battle going on between Gremory-sama and Sitri-sama, and while she was rooting for them to save her, she was a little bit disappointed to see that Furuichi wasn't there. Not that she wanted him to be there for her! No! She was just mad that idiot wasn't there when she was there because of him in the first place. Had he just been a little bit more responsible (or normal) then the requirements of her help would have been much less and she could have just popped in and out randomly throughout the day, as a side character should! Not be a damsel!

"I can hear you grumbling," the Fallen-Angel, Kokabiel, muttered in annoyance as he stared at her. In response Lamia narrowed her eyes to slits, not backing down against the man as she showed the ferocity of a young growing woman who was peeved. Kokabiel hesitated, having experienced her rants and tantrum throughout the three days he had her captured, and returned back to the entertainment before him with only mild discomfort written on his face. Lamia huffed, knowing better than to feel satisfied at scaring the Fallen-Angel to shut his trap - her mother could do better and that was with Jabberwock if she so chose to.

She watched, mildly impressed at seeing the Gremory heir and her peerage deal with the trio of Cerberus dogs. But at the same time greatly annoyed that she was still chained to the bottom of this Fallen-Angel's chair. When she got out she would give Furuichi the beating of a lifetime. No, wait, she already had. Then a beating of _two_ lifetimes!

Sadly, it seemed as though Kokabiel had accidentally destroyed the rational part of her head, or the current scene didn't really require a straight man at all so Lamia had been reduced to this common stereotype of comic relief.

She watched briefly as that handsome Knight appeared again and stopped the Cerberus from escaping just as the Lightning Mage destroyed it with her magic. Lamia bit her lip, eyeing the destructive power with a contemplative look.

'Oga is better,' Lamia thought, but a sweatdrop formed on the back of her head, 'that's not a good thing.' Just as the thought hit her, another Cerberus, which had been guarding her from below, was struck with a massive blow to its side. It roared as its three heads flailed in the air, drowned out only by the loud boom from where the hit had impacted with its body.

The Cerberus slid across the ground, and Lamia was happy, and slightly annoyed, to find Furuichi standing there. The young man, still dressed in the Pillar Squad's uniform, was staring impassively at the fallen over dog. Her eyes were blank when she realised that Kirin was inside him. 'This guy is so broken,' she thought.

A pair of tonfas twirled in Furuichi's hands, and the young man grinned at the Cerberus. Lamia was slightly disconcerted to see that, as while Furuichi's body was influenced by the Demon inhabiting his body, the influence only affected personality and bodily functions - even then Furuichi can reject the intrusion. That means while Kirin was affecting Furuichi's expressions and body movements, Furuichi ultimately contained a small snippet of such emotions inside him that made him not subconsciously reject such blatant out-of-character actions.

" **Lamia** ," Furuichi said, his voice confused as he stared at her hanging under Kokabiel's chair. " **This...wasn't what I expected when I came to save my damsel.** "

The pinkette puffed out her cheeks and stared at Furuichi balefully. "It's not like I want to be a damsel! In fact, I'm more happy that I broke your sick damsel fantasy!" Furuichi raised an eyebrow, then, to her horror, waggled his eyebrows.

" **Well, you sound almost disappointed,"** Furuichi laughed quietly. Lamia blanched, but her rebuttal was interrupted with the Cerberus dog bounding up to its feet and rushing to attack Furuichi. " **Hold that thought** ," he said as he twirled his tonfas and slapped the dog back.

Lamia sighed and resigned herself to wait. "You know you're not that much of a enthusiastic damsel," Kokabiel commented.

"And you look like a fish when you're supposed to be a crow; guess we're both disappointments," Lamia shot back.

XXXXXXX

Furuichi twirled his tonfas in his hands and striked down on the three-headed dog Cerberus. Kirin, who was inside him, felt nothing more than amused annoyance at having to fight the beast-like creature. " **Not quite a Fenrir** ," he commented, " **Then again I hated that dog**." The Cerberus reared its ugly head back up, and tried to charge Furuichi. In response, the young boy felt his muscles coil together and a surge of demonic energy filling his body up with power that, truthfully, he should not have.

With a Demonic Energy enhanced jump, Furuichi drop-kicked the Cerberus dog on its middle head, and flung his tonfas in opposite directions to strike at the two heads on its sides. The spikes tonfas were more than easily able to cleave the two heads apart with the extreme brute force that Furuichi was able to throw into the punch. The young Pillar Lieutenant twisted around in the air and landed back on his feet, crouched with his ankles together and hands spread out behind him like wings.

The tonfas spun back towards his hands like boomerangs, and the resident Makai within Furuichi snapped to a ready position.

"Amazing, Kirin doesn't seem to be inhibited at all inside his body," Tiriel muttered as she stared at the boys movements. Hecadoth grunted, even as he helped to kill the remaining Cerberus with Agiel.

"He is a different type of human, Tiriel," Hecadoth said as he landed next to her, allowing Agiel to have her fun. " Dr Forcas and I believe that the Lieutenant is a human Vessel."

"A Vessel?" Tiriel said, her voice layered in skepticism, "Maybe, but that just makes everything all the more harder for us."

Furuichi twitched, having caught their conversation. His mind briefly underwent he confusion he had felt trying to understand what the term 'Vessel' meant when Kirin, sharing his mind and knowledge with Furuichi, supplied the meaning.

Vessels were humans, who in the loosest sense in the word, were empty Sacred Gears. Unlike other Sacred Gears, these 'Vessels' were the Sacred Gear themselves - having been 'mutated' into this form. They held the ability to contain the spirit of any Supernatural being inside them, granted they could maintain it without imploding from the sheer volume of it. It was considered to be a subspecies of Sealing Sacred Gears and there were only a handful of humans classified under this title. Among them, only less were truly able to withstand having Supernatural energy within their body before dying out.

If Furuichi was not being influenced by Kirin, he would have freaked at suddenly discovering that he was even more of a freak than Oga now, but Kirin's highly analytical personality helped him stem those thoughts.

He could use this for sympathy points, Furuichi realised. He tightened his fist and nodded, eyes burning in determination at the thought of his future chances of landing a girlfriend. All the while he ignored the Kirin-induced sweatdrop at the back of his head.

" **This opens up so many possibilities,** " Furuichi muttered, eyes glazed over.

"Furuichi!" Lamia's panicked voice said above. The young Lieutenant snapped his head upwards in confusion, and barely managed to dodge the strike aiming for his head. The cement floor ahead of him blew up, spraying cement floor bits into his face as he stumbled backwards. His hands shielded his face, and it was through Kirin's highly sensitive battle instincts that he managed to backflip away from the Light Spear that tried to impale him.

He landed, splayed out on the ground, and narrowed his eyes at Kokabiel smirking atop his chair. Hecadoth was by his side in an instant, glaring at the Fallen-Angel. "How underhanded!" Hecadoth muttered in disdain.

"I don't want to hear that from an abomination like you," Kokabiel muttered as he hovered downwards. "You're proving to be more troublesome than I thought. Truly, if Azazel was here he'd be screaming at me for not trying to recruit you, who are a Vessel, into the Grigori. That damn fool!"

With a flick of his wrist, a large Light beam cut through the air and tried to hit both Hecadoth and Furuichi. Both Pillar members dodged, and Furuichi was only half-aware about the dialogue that had sprung up between a human male and one of Gremory-san's Knight. Also, that Freed guy was fighting Tiriel.

"We won't last long against him," Hecadoth muttered. Furuichi silently agreed - as even though Kirin was one of Jabberwock's personal guard, the Demon wasn't quite an Ultimate-Class Devil.

" **Where is Alaindelon?** " Furuichi asked.

"He's guiding the reinforcements to the Academy," Hecadoth muttered, "though it's a moot point soon enough if the bomb goes off soon."

Furuichi looked confused, " **I beg your pardon?** " Just then crazed laughing filled the air, and Furuichi noticed that the old man had done something completely outrageous - or at least outrageous in Kirin's perspective. " **Did he just merge the fragments of Excalibur together?!"**

"And provided the necessary holy-energy to empower a detonating seal on the ground," Hecadoth added. Another explosion went off between them, and the two Demons jumped away with their hands raised defensively.

Kokabiel appeared again, and Furuichi was slightly surprised that he was able to follow Kokabiel's movements, especially when compared to having Naga occupy him.

All at once Kirin's highly analytical mind started tearing the oddities to bits. There was no secret behind the fact that Furuichi, while capable of holding much Demonic Energy, wasn't able to maintain an amount larger than a Low-Mid Class Devil. This made Furuichi a bad fit for Naga who was a Wizard-Type, while Behemoth had reduced himself to a Technique-Type and Power-Type for Furuichi's bout with Oga. The reason why Furuichi was able to be so attuned to Kirin was because, as a 'Vessel', he was still unable to retain too much Demonic Energy. Whereas Wizard-Types who called upon their vast reserves of Demonic Energy to cast spells, Power-Types and Technique-Types merely used sheer martial ability and skill. Naga was inhibited due to Furuichi's inability to contain too much Demonic Energy, while Demons like Kirin suited Furuichi just fine since they only used some Energy to augment their abilities and relied mainly on their skill.

This allowed Kirin to utilise Furuichi's body to the fullest.

Kokabiel swung another blow, this time the arm turned to a blur, and Furuichi bent his back to avoid it. He spun his tonfas and attacked, aiming for the Fallen-Angel's face and legs. The Fallen-Angel parried the first attack and blocked the second one, and unfurling his wings, he slapped Furuichi to the side. Unconsciously, the white-haired boy tightened his nose to stop his tissues from falling out. He couldn't risk any break in the fighting, and the moment he really did drop his tissues he would be done for.

Furuichi managed to push himself back to his feet, and barely dodged a Light Spear aiming for his heart. He then drew back from a Light Sword slash and ducked underneath a flash of Light Magic. The Fallen-Angel entered a flurry of attacks, constantly switching weapons and attacks to confuse and place Furuichi on the defensive. It was only from the grace of having Kirin inside him that Furuichi hadn't lost a limb, and even that was going to run out soon.

Kokabiel tightened his face and broke off from Furuichi, much to the young man's relief. He hopped away, his unifrom torn and tattered around the sleeves and stomach area, and wondered why Kokabiel had retreated. Then he felt it, the wave of holy-energy that washed over him and the area, and nearly blanched.

" **Durandal!** " Furuichi muttered in shock, Kirin's feelings of revulsion and fear echoing from his mouth. He twisted, mind forgotten of Kokabiel, and trained his eyes on Xenovia who had pulled Durandal from its dimensional sheath. But there was another presence, something that Furuichi overlooked in his battle with Kokabiel and was now humming to thrum of holy-energy in the air.

Kiba had a sword in his hands. And Kirin could feel the undeniable absurdity it held within it.

That sword was a demonic sword.

That sword was a holy sword.

That sword was a holy-demonic sword.

That sword was a balance-breaker.

That sword was heresy.

That sword was divine.

It was evil and good. And Kirin seemed to shake inside Furuichi's body. Like that, the tonfa-using Demon ejected himself from Furuichi's body and openly gaped at it, even as he shot mildly disgusted glances at Durandal. "But this is impossible!" he declared vehemently, "For something like this, unimaginable! Blasphemy! Yin and Yang cannot be mixed together like this, it defies everything we know!"

"Unless..." Hecadoth muttered, also in shock.

"But how?" Kirin muttered, staring at the place where the young Knight held his blade.

"The Four Maous were not the only ones to perish," the old man in the schoolyard muttered in shock. For Furuichi he felt nothing, but for the Demons there - especially the Pillar Squad - they were in shock. And the lingering feelings that Furuichi could feel through the contract with Kirin revealed much.

While the Devils and Angels were always at war, that didn't meant their state of survival wasn't mutual. The Devils, Angels, and Fallen-Angels all shared one thing - they came from the Christian belief. Which have since dominated most other beliefs, and had held strong for a long time. This strength had been under contest for years after the Four Maous died, and if their enemies heard that the God of the Bible - the pillar of their faith - was dead, then the chances of lesser faiths declaring war on them becomes more and more a grave possibility. The Underworld was within reach of most, if not all, of the faiths whom would have reason to go to war with them - and being a place where nefarious entities exist, it was understandable that the Demons, the Pillar exclusively, would be the most troubled with the news.

Furuichi frowned, swaying on his feet as his body ached at the previous fight and the ends that it had forced his body to meet. "Kirin," Furuichi muttered quietly. His wounds were aggravating him, and the Pillars had retreated to form a rough semicircle around Furuichi. Tiriel had her cloak ripped at the ends, revealing that her bout with Freed was much more difficult than what he expected. Agiel had a large grin on her face, though her eyes were bouncing between Furuichi and Hecadoth. Kirin was silent as he contemplated the meaning of his life.

Kokabiel was being the same as any villain and explaining his master plan to the Gremory group.

"What do we do?" Hecadoth muttered, "We cannot defeat Kokabiel with the strength we have here." The Fallen-Angel had safely dispatched with both Gremory's Knight and the Durandal-wielding Exorcist.

Furuichi would have replied to run instead, but the thought of Kuoh Academy - the first school he had experienced such divine beauty - being destroyed was a travesty he could not ignore. He opened his mouth to say something, then a loud bang was heard and Kokabiel floated back to his spot in the sky with a reluctant flick of his wings.

"Alaindelon!" he cried in anger. Furuichi snapped his head towards the east and sure enough Alaindelon had arrived with a fresh batch of troops, their halberds pointed at the Fallen-Angel as seals spun at their tips.

"R-reinforcements?!" Rias Gremory said, surprise colouring her features. Even Furuichi was surprised, for in the place of the old coot that he had grown accustomed to was instead a tall proud man wearing a full-face helmet which hid all his features - even his ridiculous moustache. He wore plate armor around his chest, forearms and shins. Underneath it all was an all black cloth and there were three yellow stripes on his left shoulder pauldron, with an arrow running across them.

"To arms," Alaindelon muttered gravely. He spun his halberd and fired off a dozen demonic bullets at Kokabiel while the remaining soldiers formed defensive positions around the Sitri and Gremory heir.

Kokabiel blocked the shots with renewed ferocity and sent them straight back at Alaindelon but the Demon merely spun his halberd and dispelled them. The old-coot-turned-soldier calmly joined the group of Pillars. "I do hope you mind my tardiness," Alaindelon said in a british accent - somewhere between a posh Nottingham and Oxford one - and nodded in greeting. "But bugger did those Old Maou Faction gave us a run for our money."

"Impeccable timing," Hecadoth commented.

"You know us Axiom Rangers - we're there when it counts," Alaindelon muttered. His gaze then shifted to Furuichi, "By Henry's headless wife, you look like swiss cheese my dear boy!"

Furuichi scrunched his face, "Did you just say Henry's headless wife. Rather than that why are you british?"

"British?" Alaindelon said in confusion, "Why I don't quite know what to make of that! I say I sound quite the same! Oh it seems the crow is coming to play cheerio lads!" Furuichi watched as Alaindelon walked away and engaged with Kokabiel, who was screaming bloody damn murder.

"What was that," Furuich asked, sweat dropping at the sheer oddity of it all. Aguel leaned down closer to his ear to whisper it.

"It's said that the Southern Fortress saw the worst fighting out of every other stronghold in Makai. Both during the Great War and the Rebellion. Alaindelon became famous for rising through the ranks of countless dead Commanders and leading the Southern Fortress to victory in numerous battles. However his mind couldn't cope with the stress and had developed this personality to deal with it. In fact, when he retired, he found integrating with normal life difficult and had created another personality to be able to withstand the pressure of handling it," Agiel said.

Furuichi opened his mouth, "That's really sad. So he's like this because he was emotionally traumatised by the events of the war? And being in his old armor again has resurfaced those memories and personality?"

Hecadoth made an uneasy face, "Actually he did it for shits and giggles and had at one point during battle became so engrossed with the new way he spoke and acted that he got stuck in that personality. Likewise he had taken on the odd behaviour of Alaindelon after retirement to amuse his daughter, then found himself stuck in that too. It's more than likely he returned to the personality for nostalgia and because it was an automatic response to an old pastime he enjoyed." Furuchi flattened his face as he stared at Alaindelon's back.

Upgrade: Old Coot, New Rank: Old Croon.

"Huzzah! Have at thee you dirty swine!" Alaindelon cried as he took a swipe with his halberd. Kokabiel ducked underneath and snapped a quick jab with his Light Sword. No, not just a stab. When the strike connected, rather than a single hole in Alaindelon's armor, four holes appeared. Kokabiel had moved so unbelievably fast that he had blurred four consecutive strikes into one stab.

Alaindelon grunted and twirled around the next blow, parrying a sloppy swipe, and reaching forward to hit Kokabiel. The Fallen-Angel spun and rose into the air with a flap of his wings, but Alaindelon was fast and he twisted while spewing Demonic Bullets like a gatling at the rising enemy.

"Hell's Fury," Tiriel muttered, staring at the halberd in Alaindelon's hands, "It's said he had went toe to toe with the Fallen-Angel Barakiel in a duel using that halberd!" Furuichi didn't really know what that meant, or if it really meant anything beyond Alaindelon just fighting a dude named Barakiel, either way it was amazing seeing Alaindelon do battle with the enemy that had given them so much trouble.

A high pitch whine was heard, followed closely by a very loud roar of anger. Furuichi looked at the battle and was astonished to see that one of Kokabiel's wings was reduced to a burned crisp. "Why you dog?!" Kokabiel roared and swooped down with Light Energy gathering at his fingertips.

"Kirin!" Furuichi yelled in alarm. But something inside him seemed to snap, a myriad of different colourful lights flashing within his mind.

|Collating saved data|

A voice said in his mind.

|Analysing base structural stats|

|Stats determined|

|Decomposing base materials|

| **ACTIVATING COMPATIBILITY PROTOCOL** |

And just like that, Furuichi felt his heart lurch and his body morphed. He could feel Kirin's moment of surprise before he was forcibly pulled into his body. The Demon had nary a squeak in surprise before his body was _ripped_ apart and stitched into Furuichi body. It was painful, he thought.

Excruciatingly painful.

Unbearably painful.

There wasn't a word in _any_ dictionary to explain how painful it was. His body was physically changed, _no_ , spiritually, _**no**_ \- there existed nothing left of him. The sickly sweet feeling of Kirin's soul washed over him and his bright tasteful human soul merged together. Like an amateur cook, Furuichi could feel haphazardly thrown in salts and spices thrown into the mix, hoping to make the already unbalanced dish serviceable. The effect was an edible piece of food - _just_ edible. But it was enough.

No longer was Kirin inhabiting his body. They were now one - a singular body that existed together. Even their souls were now joined, the demonic with the plain. Furuichi's arm, Kirin's arm - _their_ arm flexed. And when he opened his eyes, the world was colours. Kokabiel was a dim grey colour, the Demons a sickly black, and the lone surviving huma was a twisted and mangled bright white. The ground was a lush green and the sky was a myriad of yellows, reds, and blues. All at once he realised that this was how Kirin saw the world and why he wore a cloth to block his eyes. It was near maddening to see so many colours.

| **Balance Breaker! Shattered Mirror|**

And then the world flashed. He sped forward in speeds normal to High-Class Devils, and surged to a stop in front of Kokabiel. His tonfas spun in his hands, experiences not his own bleeding through his mind, and with skill that defied his earlier show, he had masterfully deflected the orb of Light Energy with a flick of his wrist. But it still had taken too much out of him, and his left arm was singed and burned - the skin flaying away to reveal taunt muscles underneath and burning flesh. The ground cracked beneath his feet, unable to withstand the pressure from both the force behind his swipe and the Light energy. The top half of his uniform burned away and showed off a body far more developed than what he was used to.

| **Warning! Warning! Time Duration: Sixty seconds. Thirty-Five seconds green zone, reaching Forty seconds yellow zone|**

Furuichi wondered what it meant by that but then he felt the terrible ripping apart of hia soul again as Kirin was removed amd restitched together, and Furuichi was haphazardly closed back up. The pain was just as bas the first, and his lean body gave way to his human form. He collapsed ro his knees, eyes rolled back to his head, amd fell to the ground.

His hands was unable to heal in time before Kirin had been ejected by whatever the voice was and his tissues fell off. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he could hear the terrified screams of Hecadoth and Agiel, the shocked voices of the Devils, and Kokabiel's scornful sneer.

 **A/N: Ohhhh what is this? Ahahaha. I admit this was pretty out of the blue like, 'What Furuichi has a Sacred Gear?!' and 'What he has reached Balance Breaker** _ **already**_ **!?' Well, yea it was meant to be surprising. I had always thought it was weird how it was randomly stated that Furuichi was apparently able to hold demonic energy in him so well. Then I thought, what** _ **if**_ **Furuichi was less normal than he thought he was. And in the DxD universe if ur not normal than more than likely u have a Sacred Gear.**

 **Of course he isn't OP,** _ **yet.**_ **If you didn't catch it then the longest Furuchin can hold his new balance breaker is sixty seconds, which is** _ **one whole minute**_ **. Its purposefully less than Issei because at the end of the day Furuchin is still human.**

 **And of course there are other consequences to his new ability.**

 **BTW: sorry about the late update. I sadly do not own a computer, or well I do but its incapable of connecting to my wifi for whatever apprent reason. So I'm using my phone to write for everything.**

 **Fun fact: I got the idea of Shattered Mirror when I was playing the Fate/Stay Night VN for my other fic (Let me Screw Around in the Clone Wars) and came across Archer who was essentially a Faker. (SPOILERS) as he copies Noble Phantasms and weapons that have a reduced Rank. So he is basically a Fake Hero, while still being a Hero. While Archer copies swords to achieve his dream of being a Hero, I think it was close to Furuichi.**

 **During the tissues arc he indulged in his moments of being cool and strong for once. He was essentially no longer Furuchin or trash, names he hated and had for a moment felt inferior to Oga whom he had stayed by his side as long as their childhood. In any case, while Oga has already acknowledged Furuichi's strength its a given that Furuichi may still feel inferior to everyone when he still failed to do much during the Fallen-Angel arc and the ending arc that I forgot the name of - even with his tissues.**

 **(This fun fact is getting pretty long)**

 **So** _ **basically**_ **, the feelings Furuichi felt had created his Balance Breaker, in that he wants to be someone that he's not. Thus, he literally** _ **becomes**_ **the thing inhabiting his body. No longer being Furuchin or Furuichi, but someone else entirely. Even his soul is no longer the same.**

 **Of course, there are things better explained in the story. And I'm sure there are some people put off by this new little part - it's alright I understand - since some people enjoy their characters being the same while changing the storyline. I sometimes are like that. But for anyone that likes or dislikes it, or feels that it is either out of place or implausible even with the reasons above, then please say so in the reviews.**

 **Be careful though, I have a tendency to flash over flames or things I might intially perceive as flames as I get angey easily - which is a bad trait I admit. So I apologise in advance if I end up skipping through some of your stuff, but I will make the ffot to read through anybody's thoughts on the matter (if anybody wants to that is).**

 _ **WDO345 signing out**_ **.**


	9. Chapter 9

Lamia sat quietly, chewing on her lip as the Muumuu did its best to fix Furuichi's near flayed left hand. There was nothing left except the muscle of his arm, which kept twitching at some mental pain, and Lamia had been near desperate to stabilise his condition before he fell deeper into his current shock when she was released from her chained up state.

After the battle on the schoolyard, where Alaindelon and the Axiom Rangers managed to destroy two more of the Fallen-Angel's wings, a white armored person descended from the sky and took over beating up Kokabiel to a meaty pulp. He had left after saying some things but Lamia had been busy trying to make sure Furuichi lived to see another day.

They had quickly whisked Furuichi back to Pillar HQ, only delaying their return long enough to ensure the safety of the Maous sisters and using Alaindelon as a quick taxi.

Her mother, Laymia, had quickly placed Furuichi in a healing trance while Dr Forcas commanded Lamia during the surgery. All throughout the procedure she noted that Hecadoth stayed nearby and had been glancing worriedly at the operating table. She had knew that Hecadoth and Furuichi were close, but she was surprised to find out from Agiel that the Pillar General actually considered Furuichi as a brother.

Dr Forcas had fixed the ruptured internal organs that had been damaged from the battle with Kokabiel, but the flayed hand was beyond his ability to safe. The Light Energy was still radiating off the arm and Dr Forcas wasn't able to continue any further than stopping the flayed hand from causing Furuichi to die of blood loss. As the Muumuu was neutral to both Demonic and Light Energy, it was currently sucking up the residual power while carefully and slowly layering synthetic skin over his arm.

Lamia flinched. The arm would look normal, but Demonic Energy wasn't potent enough to rebuild the nerves of human skin and thus Furuichi would be unable to feel anything from that arm. Lamia was slightly in dismay but kept her emotions in check as she changed his bandages, soaked the towel on his forehead, and injected the hourly painkillers into Furuichi's IV tube. As a doctor she could not allow her attentiveness to falter in light of a patient's state.

There was a sound at the door, and Lamia turned around to see that Hecadoth had entered the room. She had grown accustomed to his visits as it had been a week since the battle, and Hecadoth had always made sure he was close by. However, rather than step up next to her, he instead took a step to the left of the door and bowed his head in respectful silence. Her face of confusion at his actions changed to instantaneous shock as Lady Iris stepped into the room, looking as healthy as possible - well besides the wheelchair.

"M-my Lady!" Lamia said in surprise, slightly embarrassed at greeting Lady Iris in her doctor's uniform. The current Beelzebub's wife smiled kindly at Lamia and pushed herself inside, not accepting the help of Hecadoth who tried to do so instead.

"Evening. You are Laymia's daughter, am I right? You look just like her," Lady Iris said softly as she stopped a few paces away from the young doctor. Lamia blushed at the compliment and bowed in respect.

"Thank you for your kind words!" Lamia stuttered. Soft laughter greeted and she was further embarrassed that her Lady was laughing.

"You needn't go so far," Lady Iris said with a gentle smile on her face. "I am not here as the Beelzebub's wife, rather I am merely here as a friend seeing another."

"A-a friend?" At the question Lady Iris gestured her hand to Furuichi and rolled up next to him with a small smile.

"He and Oga have returned me back here to the place I love. Even if Ajuka spends every waking hour on his formulas and creations, he at least takes moments to spend time with me, and En has just been so precious after I got back. Though I haven't seen Beelze yet, I take it he's happier with Oga right now," Lady Iris explained as she wheeled up next to Furuichi. Lamia was silent as she allowed Lady Iris thread her fingers in between Furuichi's hair. "I would like it if one of my children grew up to be like him."

"W-what?!" Lamia muttered in mute shock. Even Hecadoth had snapped his eyes wide open. "My Lady you don't know his real personality. He's a perverted, rude, and a completely disgusting human being. He chases skirts more than anything else and he's a poser," Lamia said. The words flew out of her mouth before she could stop it and she slightly regretted the words. To her surprise, rather than be hesitant or revolted with what she heard, Lady Irish smiled heartwarmingly at Furuichi.

"And he is loyal, always seeking to stand beside _that_ man. Always, even if the world was against _him,_ this boy would be there. Maybe not obviously, maybe sometimes never physically there, but there is no doubting the feelings inside him," Lady Iris said. "He may not be a prime example of a great human being but he is more than enough of a noble heart. Truly, he is far more complicated than you give him credit for."

Lamia silently mulled over the truth in her words and quietly agreed with her. The Muumuu made a clicking noise, signifying he was finished, and Lamia carefully lifted the body off Furuichi. As she did she ignored the changes his body had underwent ever since he had achieved Balance-Breaker. His muscles had become more defined and his muscle density had increased, making him heavier and stronger, and his skin colour had gained a vibrant tan to it. There was also a burned symbol in the middle of his right bicep; a butterfly with two ovals on its wings surrounding stitching like markings.

"How difficult it must be for the two of you, to be friends with such a tremendous person and be unable to help him," she said to both Lamia and Hecadoth. Lamia gritted her teeth, refusing to show her anxiety to Lady Iris, and quietly nodded in agreement. Just then a groan was heard and the room descended into silence.

XXXXXX

Ajuka listened intently as Kirin relayed the events of the battle to all Four Maous. The current Beelzebub, and literal genius, was calmly and analytically viewing the point of view of the Pillar Baron.

"You say that you had been...ripped apart and stitched onto this Furuichi's body?" Sirzechs said, his tone slightly coloured with disbelief and confusion.

"Yes, sir," Kirin replied with absolute certainty. "In that moment, I had truly ceased to exist. My soul had been ripped apart and used to patch the weakness in Furuichi's _soul_ , not his body. In that moment I became Furuichi, and Furuichi became me," he paused, looking troubled, before continuing, "I...My Family, have been borned with the ability to look at the world in colours. We experience things no one else does and it makes us more attuned to the world than others. When I visited the injured Lieutenant, My Lords, he's colour was no longer the bright white of a human being. It was sickly red, like a vampire, but deep blue, like a water spirit. Yet, his white light still exists, mashed together with all the different colours...and I still see my colour inside him." Ajuka frowned in contemplation, knowing Kirin wouldn't make anything up.

"What a strange Sacred Gear," Serafall commented as she touched her lips. " **Shattered Mirror** , the Balance-Breaker, and **Fractured Image** , it's ability."

"It should be noted," Asmodeus said, "That given the general theme of both names, it is safe to say that the Lieutenant doesn't completely become the Demon in question. It is fractured, incomplete and missing vital components."

"It's a Sacred Gear used to add traits to himself, not quite like a mirror; it's just reflecting what he wants to see," Ajuka murmured, "What a vain ability, but at the same time, from what I know of the Lieutenant, I cannot believe he would be willing to indulge in such behaviour."

"Or it could be the feelings of inferiority," Sirzechs cut in, "the need and want to be stronger than what he is now, becoming those that he admires and look up to, yet remaining himself."

Ajuka nodded his head, conceding to his point. There were still too many unknowns to the situation to properly deduce the root cause. "What do you have to say Dr Forcas?" The good doctor was quiet as he silently contemplated everything that happened, and only when he was directly addressed did he snap out of his reverie.

"Some of what I wanted to say has already been spoken by Kirin," Dr Forcas said imperiously, "Furuichi's Sacred Gear seeme to have done just that, however his human soul is incompatible with a Demon's soul."

"How? Humans can be turned into Devils easily with the Evil Piece System," Serafall asked, looking confused. Ajuka stepped in to explain as it _was_ his system.

"The Evil Piece System is different. It is only capable to revive those who have already _died._ When that happens the World has already processed and, scientifically speaking, neutralise the soul. Then the Evil Pieces counteracts the System, reestablishes the connection the soul has to this world, and then reincarnating the soul as a Devil," Ajuka stated. "The Lieutenant's situation is different. It's a human soul being forcibly turned into a Demon soul; Demon and not Devil as Makai residents are affected by different cause and effect clauses than us. The result has led to the Lieutenant experiencing 'Compatibility Issues', in layman terms that is."

Dr Forcas nodded as he crossed his arms, "It is in my belief that as the Sacred Gear tried to circumvent the System to make Furuichi's soul compatible with that of Kirin, it began mixing and matching different characteristics within its range to morph Furuichi into something that is capable of accepting and not rejecting Kirin." He paused, allowing it all to sink in with the Maous before continuing, "It is worth of note that Human Souls were not designed for this and this has in fact drastically reduced his lifespan by sixty years."

"He should be dead already then," Sirzechs refuted calmly Dr Focas nodded but he already had a counter for that.

"You would be right, but either by luck or the Sacred Gear being semi-sentient, Furuichi managed to stave off this conclusion by essentially becoming part spirit and vampire," Dr Forcas said, "it's not to the point that Furuichi would start drinking blood or be able to call the elements to his use, but a small sliver of his soul has essentially become part vampire and water spirit. My guess is the Sacred Gear tried to make Furuichi capable of withstanding the drastic increase in demonic power by adding vampire characteristics into his body, which had the added effect of adding a few years into his life. The water spirit must be to repair the damaged tissue and cells caused by the massive increase of growth within a few seconds, which saved Furuichi from dying after returning to human form. It could have also been added to make Furuichi's soul more malleable for the transformation to occur. There are also other parts stitched into his soul, and I really do mean stitched. His soul has been ravaged, completely turned into something it isn't, and became an eldritch monstrosity. The fact that a part of Kirin's soul is still connected to Furuichi however may simply be a countermeasure to make sure that Kirin will not find any opposition entering Furuichi's body as a Vessel by the new parts of his soul."

"This has never happened before with any Sacred Gears," Ajuka muttered, "It can't even be called a sub-species, more like a mutation. A broken Sacred Gear."

"It doesn't matter as of now. Furuichi's mental state is so far still sane, and he can be dealt with accordingly. However, the boy is a Lieutenant of the Pillar Division, and as such I leave it to Asmodeus to decide his fate," Sirzechs stated.

Asmodeus woke up from his sleep and blinked warily at the assembled council. "As acting Commander of all military forces, I will pass the decision to the current General-in-charge of the Pillars." Asmodeus turned to Jabberwock, who was sweating bullets. Usually the Pillar Commander would be hard-pressed to even feel nervous about any situation, but considering he was talking to Asmodeus, who had single-handedly wrecked him when he had woken him from his morning nap and expelled him as a Commander in the first place, the Demon was very wary.

"As a Lieutenant in the Pillars," Behemoth, who had noticed Jabberwocks distress, had spoken up instead of his son. "Furuichi is under good confidence to pull out from this incident unharmed, and I am willing to risk that he is still trustworthy to remain as a member of the Pillars."

"I second that," Alaindelon said as he twirled his moustache, his british accent still in place, "Why, I am willing to say that Furuichi is too loyal for his own good. He'll whine, I can bet the Queen's throne he would, but we needn't worry about him."

"Good, then this issue has been resolved until further notice," Sirzechs said.

XXXXXX

Both Lamia and Hecadoth sweatdropped as Furuichi devoured five whole steaks in quick succession, Lady Iris quietly cheering him on next to him. "Man, I feel half-empty," Furuichi said as he downed the last steak, "Sorry about the bad table manners though."

"No it's quite alright," Lady Iris said gently, "Consider it reparations for the trouble I have cause you and Oga during my runaway." Lady Iris placed a comforting hand on Furuichi's shoulder and Laia marveled at how easily Furuichi fell to her trance - he wasn't even ogling her! This was an awesome feat!

""Hehehe, it was no trouble at all," Furuichi grinned. "Say if you're here..." he trailed off. Understanding lit up in Lady Iris' eyes and she shook her head.

"No, Oga and Hilda are not with me. In fact, I do believe that they are currently still in Ishiyama," she said. Furuichi nodded his head and finished what was left of his steak. Lamia made sure to keep an eye out for any irregularities in his movements, even when the vast amounts of food he was consuming already was irregular behaviour for him.

Furuichi nodded his head, looking a bit relieved, and looked pointedly at Lamia. "I think I may need more healing magic for my left hand. I can't feel anything from it."

She frowned, "First off, it's not healing 'magic' and secondly," she hesitated, "I can't fix it, your left hand is ruined no matter how hard you try. It looks normal, and in fact the muscle tissue and tendons have been repaired, but the skin is fake. The holy-energy and the demonic energy had destroyed your nerves irreparably from the attack - never mind having it burnt and flayed off your arm. I can't fix it, maybe I could but you aren't a Devil, and the holy-energy is making it difficult."

Furuichi looked crestfallen, "No way! That means I can't hold a girl with both my arms?!" Hecadoth spluttered back a laugh at that while Lamia scrunched her face up.

"Why is that the first thing that enters your head?!" she yelled out in frustration. "Baka-ichi!"

"Don't change my name like that! You're becoming a tsundere stereotype Lamia!"

"Then it's your fault! Both for being a Baka-ichi and a Creepichi that turned me like this!" She rebuked. Furuichi grabbed his chest, having heard two terrible nicknames tossed at him. He felt like letting loose a manly tear at his heart shattering with the painful reminders.

"In any case," Hecadoth interjected, "How are you feeling?"

Furuichi made a face as he pressed his right arm against his chest searchingly. "Don't know," he answered honestly, "I feel alright, but I also don't. There's an intense burning sensation all over, and I think I feel a lot more...I don't know, longevity?"

"Probably because you now have a vampire's soul stitched into you," Dr Forcas said as he entered the room. The white-haired teen raised a confused eyebrow.

"Vampire's soul?" He asked. Dr Forcas then relayed everything he had said with the Maous to Furuichi, keeping an eye on the boy's mental health as well. He reacted with a pained and terrified expression, common to anyone in this situation. But then a look of dismay passed through his face.

"I'm weirder than Oga now?! Damn it!" he slammed his fist down, "How am I supposed to get girls like this?!" Both Lamia and Hecadoth sweatdropped. To everyone's surprise, Lady Iris clapped her hands and smiled at Furuichi happily.

"Doesn't Oga have two girls competing for his love and attention?" she said, "Since Oga's only redeeming quality is his weirdness, wouldn't that mean you would be able to, um, 'get' girls better like this?!" Furuichi looked shell-shocked at Lady Iris' words and his mouth was dropped open.

"Is that how it is?!" He said in shock. He cupped his chin in wonder, "Man, women's hearts are fickle things." That comment earned him a punch to the face courtesy of their resident pinkette.

Dr Forcas smiled tiredly at the scene and frowned at what he still saw. While not the greatest sensor, Dr Forcas could still be able to discern the identity of however was in his room - whether beast or other entity. Furuichi's signature was sickly and black, rubbing off him like a rotting corpse.

He could feel the coldness of a Vampire, the soft sting of saltwater from a water spirit and the myriad of other components now literally sewn onto Furuichi's human body. Regretfully, that would also mean that anybody else could, and that could mean absolutely anything.

"Lieutenant," another voice said, stepping into the room. Behemoth strode into the room a wondering look on his face. "It is good to see you well."

"Behemoth-san," Furuichi greeted, looking slightly uncomfortable. Behemoth chuckled and stepped aside to let Jabberwock and Kirin in. Both Kirin and Furuichi glanced at each other, and a cold shiver ran down both their spines.

"Sorry," Furuichi said, what he was apologising for did not need to be said.

"By all means, apologise more," Kirin replied.

"Just take the damn apology! Or the next time I summon you, I'll use you to peek on the women's bath!" Furuichi said. Kirin faltered, and glanced at Hecadoth who gave him a grim nod to accept. Realising that the Lieutenant was serious in the matter, he immediately sweatdropped.

"I humbly accept your apology," he said instantly, glancing at the pinkette who was glaring at the Lieutenant with a fire in her eyes. A fire that Kirin was afraid he might have to warn Laymia about. Furuichi on the other hand was sweating as he tried to maintain his poker face, wondering if Lamia had up the ante on her glares recently.

"Alright then," Furuichi said, "Why are you guys here?" Behemoth smiled, but it was mirthless and it honestly scared the living daylight out of Furuichi.

"I had sent you to Kuoh Academy as you were thinking you were sufficient enough to handle it. Yet, it was an error on my part." There was genuine regret on Behemoth's face as he said this. "As such, you have underwent an irreversible change. Furthermore, Sirzechs Lucifer informs me that he will be having a summit with the Fallen-Angels Governor, Azazel, and the Angels Leader, Michael, soon in Kuoh Academy proper. Unfortunately, the only assets I can afford to lend in the defence of Maou-sama in the Pillars would be you Furuichi. The other Pillars would be assigned with border patrol, due to Kokabiel mentioning sensitive information in broad daylight, and would be hunting down the Old Maou Faction in Makai territory."

"So, I'll be alone?" Furuichi sounded nervous at that. He had been alone when he went up against Kokabiel both times, well slightly, but there was no mistaking he had been outmatched greatly. He didn't want a repeat of that. Behemoth, however, shook his head in the negative.

"Though it would be incredibly taxing to our already hectic reserves, I am assigning Kirin and Elim to you," Behemoth said, looking intently at Furuichi. For the most part, Furuichi was slightly confused, and put off with the two people he was assigned with. While he had summoned both ample amount of times throughout his days in Ishiyama, it was another thing to say he was friendly with them. Not to say he wasn't friendly with them, still he would still rather work with people he was more familiar with.

"Why not Agiel and Hecadoth? I know them best," Furuichi asked. Behemoth grunted and to the white haired Lieutenant's surprise, he threw a tonfa at him. It wasn't one of Kirin's tonfas, it was just a regular metal one that wouldn't be out of place with a police officer. When Furuichi caught it, he found his eyes dilate, his fingers coil around the hilt like he had known it forever, and blocked the strike aimed for his head in the blink of an eye.

He pulled himself up to his feet, legs spreading wide open and hunching his shoulders forward. Kirin disengaged, sliding backwards from his attack, and grunting as he stared at Furuichi behind his cloth covered eyes. "Indeed your theory seems to be correct, Dr Forcas."

The room was silent, both Lamia and Hecadoth staring wide-eyed at the sudden violence that erupted between a Pillar Baron and Furuichi, even more so at how effective and fast Furuichi had been in blocking the blow. Meanwhile Lady Iris calmly watched the entire thing with a small serene smile on her face, like she had expected this. "What?" Furucihi asked warily, suddenly suspicious of everyone around him.

"Has Dr Forcas informed you of your new predicament?" Behemoth asked. Furuichi glanced at the good doctor, and slowly but surely nodded his head at the Ultimate-Class Devil. Behemoth smiled and then stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Then I'll let him explain this."

Dr Forcas nodded and began to speak, "As I've already said, you currently have several different characteristics of different beasts, and supernatural entities within you. One of which is Kirin himself, as he had occupied your body. I had originally thought that it was to allow Kirin to better use your body in future occurrences, however, I now believe it serves a dual purpose; or perhaps this was its purpose all along." Furuichi frowned, not quite getting it. Noticing it, Dr Forcas tried his best to explain it in a way that Furuichi could understand. "You see Furuichi, souls are like memory banks. Like a brain, only more complex, and is tied to your very essence as a living being. As you grow, so does your soul, and everything you experience so does it. A person who is torture, will have that tortue reflected onto his soul; only it would follow with his psychological and not physical perception of his torture. Likewise, as a person acquired new skills and grows in terms of power and ability, the soul will naturally reflect that and absorb the experiences. The reason it is like this, is so that after death, the System can properly evaluate a person's life."

"Alright, but what does this have to do with me," Furuichi asked, then realization hit him like a truck. "You mean because I have a piece of Kirin's soul in me, I have his experiences and skill?" Looking at the tonfas in his hand, he had to admit that it felt like he had held the weapon for years. Skills, experiences, and techniques flashed in his mind that he hadn't ever since or heard of before.

Dr Forcas grunted, "Close but not quite." Furuichi shot him a confused look. "Furuichi, your Sacred Gear is called **Shattered Mirror** , and the ability is **Fractured Image**. Even when Kirin was fully absorbed into your body, you were still lacking in the fundamental ability to hold all of his Demonic Energy and your body, while buffed by the hybrid soul, was still human in a sense. It should go without saying that, while you hold some of Kirin's abilities, they are either inhibited due to your body, or somewhat lacking."

"I agree," Kirin interjected, "Though it isn't your physical ability that inhibits you. The stance you took when blocking my strike, it was flawed. Your legs were too wide apart, yours to close to your chest, and while your strength is lacking; had you done the stance properly, you would have been able to use the force of your opponent against him. Your stance would have been perfect, if you were merely an observer viewing from a distance," Kirin paused, as though he had caught on to something, "In fact, that is exactly what it was. You looked as though you had watched someone perform the stance, and had tried to imitate him rather than being a regular practitioner."

"Within the parameters of what we know of his Sacred Gear," Dr Forcas agreed.

"Now, as you can imagine, since we have found out that you now have some ability in hand-to-hand combat thanks to your violation of Kirin-"

"Don't say it like that!"

"-we will endeavor to train you further in those skills throughout the duration of Kuoh Academy before the planned summit. The reason why Elim is accompanying you is to teach you how to properly utilise your contract holder status."

"I beg your pardon?" Furuichi asked, confused by what he meant. Hecadoth pinched his nose but replied helpfully from the side.

"Furuichi, while using the tissues is perfectly fine for other people, you hold a contract with every member of the Pillars. And contract holder usually do not use third party means in order to summon Demons they have a contract with," Hecadoth explained, "As such, you should be able to summon us without the tissues."

"For reals?! Why didn't you tell me before?!" Furuichi asked hysterically. This could have seriously helped him in the past.

"I would like to say something cool, but it was actually because I forgot and you didn't ask," The Pillar General said with a shrug.

"Don't be so casual with my life on the line!" Furuichi cried.

"Well, there you have it. Both Kirin and Elim will teach the abilities you need and assist you with the defence of the Maou during the summit. After the summit, we plan on having more in depth training sessions to increase your Demonic Energy levels and abilities," Behemoth said, cutting off any further conversation.

"Alright," Furuichi conceded. He glanced at his hands warily, unsure of how he was going to deal with all of this. "I should be a regular high school student," he murmured, "But damn do I not want to leave the school with such beautiful girls."

 **A/N: I've been seeing people talk about the romance side of this fic, i.e, the Harem. Now, there is a harem, I would lie and say there isn't or anything like that. And I know how I want. It's pretty extensive though, or at least I think it is.**

 **For those of you who want to be surprised for the Harem, don't read any further. For those of you who don't care or want to have some input in it, continue.**

 **The Harem is as followed (it is subject to change if people want me too enough): Xenovia and Irina (though I'm leaning towards Xenovia more, though even if both of them end up chasing Furuichi's skirt, they'll still be part of the Church trio with Asia)**

 **Taeko Furuna (There is no doubt that she is a female Furuichi, except less pathetic. They have the same initials! TF! And I'm biased, team TF for the win!)**

 **Sona-Kaichou (Because why not, Saji has his two girls anyway)**

 **Gabriel (I can make it work, by god I will make it work)**

 **Lamia (I've shipped these two from the beginning, besides Lamia has gotten older now, and in demon years that is alot. Though they'd probably be a more emotional attachment rather than a physical one for now)**

 **And some other girls I'm keeping for reasons.**


	10. Chapter 10

Honoka sighed as she fixed up the bento for her older brother. He had been sick for the past few days, telling her to leave him be while he slept the days away, and had only just recently left the room to inform her he was attending school the next day. Her brother was always a weird one - and she was ashamed to admit, he was a bit perverted and her parents, as well as herself, were worried he may be a lolicon. Honoka would like to believe her brother wasn't so, but the evidence proved the contrary.

She finished packing the bento and slid them onto the smooth wooden table that connected the open kitchen with the living room. She was slightly amazed that her brother had landed such a great apartment for them, with its western open space theme and nice smooth wooden flooring, and she wondered just how much he had to pay for them.

"Good morning Honoka," the pinkette that was almost always attached to her brother's hips walked into the room yawning. Her hair was a mess in the morning, and Honoka was slightly concerned that she had exited from her brother's room. She didn't want to think about what her brother had done to her - or forced her to do - and had taken her non-miserable or crestfallen face at face value and had rationalized it as her sleeping forever.

Yeah right why would a girl almost younger than her be sleeping over with her brother who was older than her?! "Good morning," Honoka replied evenly. She placed an extra plate of food for the pinkette, having expected her as she had been bunking over since they got here. "Where's Furuichi?"

The girl blinked at her, then pointed lazily at the room. "He's sore so he's taking a while to get up. He'll be out soon enough," she replied. Honoka tried to filter out the ideas of just _why_ her brother was sore, and _what_ he had done the other night to warrant him sleeping in.

"I'll go wake him up then," Honoka said warily, hovering outside her brother's door. Honoka had entered Furuichi's doors once every full moon, and each them she had laid witness to her brother's phase of pervertedness either in the form of picture books he should not have or a camera filled with picture she did not want to know how he gotten.

Taking a breath to firm herself, she quickly push the door open and stepped into the room. It looked normal at the first glance, well-kept floors and books all organized on the desks and bookshelves, but Honoka knew better. She glanced warily below her brother's bed and the small black box tucked underneath his study table. Shuddering she forcefully expelled this knowledge from her head and made her way to her brother.

She looked up at her, and paused. A look of shock filled her face as she realised that the sheets had been crumpled up to the foot of the bed and her brother laid shirtless. Now, Honoka wasn't like her brother, she didn't appreciate the body of the opposite gender as much as he did, but she was still a girl. Granted she had seen her brother shirtless before and felt absolutely nothing, and even now she felt nothing. But what had made her so shocked was the fact her brother's body had changed so much. Her brothers lithe and practically bare bones physique had grown...rougher. It was more filled out with a muscle and a small, just barely sticking out four pack. Her brother shifted to his left and Honoka was further stunned to realise a tattoo was now on his arm.

"Honoka?" Her brother's voice asked and Honoka took a quick step back in surprise at how tired her brother sounded.

"S-sorry! I came to wake you up for breakfast," she replied, stuttering at the beginning as her brother pulled himself out of bed. For a moment, she could have sworn her brother's eyes reminded her of a soldier walking up in a warzone, but in the next second it was gone and replaced with her brother's usual experience.

"Alright I'll be there in a second!" he said as he tossed himself off the bed. Honoka nodded her head vigorously and quickly made her way out of the room, wondering all the while just what the hell happened to her brother.

XXXXX

Furuichi blearily grabbed his uniform and slid it on. He had spent the entire day yesterday training with Kirin on his style of hand-to-hand combat, and at night he was reviewing formulas and other what-nots from Elim. It seemed magic in the real world was less hocus-pocus and more mental math than he realised. It didn't change anything either way, Furuichi would still need to rely on the tissues for now but so far he had managed to be able to summon a Pillar using the formulas that Elim thought him - though the effect was a random Demon just like with his tissues.

Elim told him that each Demon had his own signature, which could be comparable to a whole new equation, and that asking Furuichi to memorise them at this time was near overkill to their already limited timeframe. So Elim had thought him a randomize equation, that used 'X' as a function to choose a random signature of a Pillar based on Furuichi's stress levels and danger readings. Whatever that meant.

Long story short, Furuichi had learned how to summon Pillars without the tissues, but at the same time it took too much concentration and effort for him to be able to use it in a real battle, for now at least. This mental training, combined with Kirin beating him to the ground and calling it 'training', had nearly burned Furuichi out. With a tired sigh, he entered the living room and sat down next to Lamia.

"Furuichi I'll be heading back home to get some supplies, so don't do anything that'll make me mad," Lamia told him as she bit into her food. Furuichi sweatdropped, nodding his head absentmindedly as his body entered automatic mode. Since the day of the incident, Lamia had gotten even more intense than usual with his health, and while Furuichi thought it was nice, it was also very painful and terrifying for him.

"That's great," Furuichi said, making sure to keep his voice neutral, "When will you be back?" Furuichi made sure to ignore the frantic and slightly disgruntled face of his sister as she looked back and forth from him and Lamia. The memory of her running off to call the cops was still sour in his mind.

"In a couple hours or so, Dr Forcas wants me to help him with the increase in injured people," Lamia informed him. Furuichi nodded and finished his food, striding up to his full height and plucking his bento off the counter top.

"Come on, Honoka, we have to get to school soon or we'll be late." Honoka stuttered out a reply and quickly went to follow her older brother out the door, tossing a quick glance to the pinkette who was watching them go with a melancholic expression. "Be safe, Lamia." He said as he left the door, and Honoka was sure she saw the pinkette duck her head in embarrassment in what he said.

Honoka suppressed a smile at the oddly cute scene - and was slightly disturbed how her brother had fit into it so swimmingly. The two left the apartment quietly, Furuichi not wanting to say anything with his mind currently occupied and Honoka wanting to return to school as soon as possible.

Summer had already began and Honoka had made a few friends in the school that she would like to spend some free time with. She knew her brother wouldn't mind, he always went along with her decisions. Still, as she walked alongside her brother, she couldn't help but notice the different way her brother carried himself. She had noticed it since the day he had insisted to wear the military uniform, and for a while Honoka thought he was using it to flirt with girls, but her brother had been walking with his back straighter and his shoulders more set - like a soldier. It was barely noticeable at first but now it was even more so, with his muscles that filled out the sleeves and the way he lifted his arms with each swing of his step. It was definitely there - the aura of a soldier.

Furuichi however remained completely oblivious to the thoughts going on in his sister and merely continued to mentally review the katas and forms of Kirin's style of combat. Still, when they entered the premise of the school, he had quickly buried those thoughts and refocused his eyes on the beautiful girls in their summer uniforms. So much skin being shown, but not too much - after all less didn't always mean more!

"Stay safe Honoka," Furuichi said as he waved his sister away. She seemed to hesitate and the eldest Furuichi tensed unconsciously. Ever since the incident with Kokabiel, Furuichi made sure to keep a close eye on his sister, making sure the memories never came back or traumatized her. Her moment of hesitation evaporated in an instant, however, when she tossed him a brief smile and went to greet a group of first years now entering the school. Furuichi watched her go, and sighed imperceptibly.

With sluggish steps, he dragged himself over to a bench nearby and crumpled onto it. His head banging uselessly against the top of it as he tried to waste the few minutes in the morning before classes start. A plus of coming from a delinquent school, he was pretty well versed in the art of bunking classes.

He took the moment to review his knowledge of the school premises, rifling through the important information and other menial ones for the benefit of the Maou. He had been informed that the Current Lucifer would be visiting early for some type of festival, and while that happened, Furuichi would be tailing the Gremory's peerage while the more experienced Kirin would shadow the Maou's side.

He blinked and stretched, eyeing the clouds that danced lazily in the air before finally breathing a sigh. He felt somebody sit on the empty spot next to him, and he eyed a mesh of black and green hair by his side. "Ah, it's you Xenovia-san. I heard you joined Gremory's peerage, good for you," Furuichi said. He quietly ogled her in the Kuoh Academy uniform, but tried to quell his emotions a little bit as the girl seemed a bit troubled.

"Yes, though you were the first one to congratulate me for it," Xenovia replied with an easy smile. Furuichi chuckled and thought that, indeed, it was strange to congratulate someone essentially selling your soul to a Devil and becoming one yourself.

"What are you doing here?" Furuichi asked, looking at her intently. She still had the smell of scented candles around her, but it was backed up by more now - lavender maybe? Either way, he was slightly befuddled to see Xenovia so troubled in the morning. The strong Exorcist that he had seen do battle against the Fallen-Angels and Freed seemed more distant in comparison. "I can tell you have something to say." She glanced at him in the corner of her eye before her shoulders gave way, relaxing in his presence for whatever reason.

"In my time as a swordsman, I had learned that being a woman was not what was expected of me," Xenovia stated, "And even then the luxuries my cohorts had wished for, like cute clothes and a chance at romance, were distant for them." Furuichi listened quietly. It was slightly awkward, being the witness to a girls confession of her past when you only knew her for all a few scant sentences. But Xenovia seemed relaxed around him - perhaps because they were both now essentially employed by Devils and Demons - but there was also something else there. The trust and faith one soldier had to another.

Of course Xenovia would feel somewhat out of place with those in Gremory's group, because not all of them had lived her lifestyle. A soldier's lifestyle. The Knight was close but even then he could only reach so far into her world. How strange everything must be for her, a person who was sheltered in the institution of the Church, and at the same time, trained as a warrior of faith and loyalty.

"Even though they were troubled," Xenovia began again after a pause, "These things had never affected me. Perhaps it was best to say, 'I was a born warrior', but now that I'm no longer an Exorcists, I've realised there are more colours in the world than before. Back then, all I had seen was grey, and I think the training stopped me from seeing anything more than just grey. But now, I realised there is so many things out there that I can't find simply by wielding a sword," she shifted, "I want to experience the things I would have experienced as a woman, not as a soldier. I want to make a child," she stated seriously. That caught Furuichi for a loop.

"Whoa! Wait don't you think you're going too far there?!" Furuichi cried in shock. Xenovia blinked and stared at the white-haired boy in confusion.

"Why? Is it not every girls dream to have a child? To raise a family of one's own?" Xenovia asked curiously. Furuichi swestdropped, this girl was way too out-of-place in the modern era.

"Well, yea, I guess, but there's more to it than that. You can't just plan to make a child like that. More importantly, who are you going to make child with!" Furuichi exclaimed, already exasperated at what he was explaining. She reminded him of Oga, except less uncaring and dense, but at the same time that wasn't saying much. He sighed, thinking back on his own dreams of finding a girl to love - Xenovia really knew how to build a melacholic atmosphere. "Making a child is all great and good, but you're forgetting the journey that comes with it. The search to find someone for yourself, the days and months that come with falling in love. A baby is a lovely thing, but the journey there, the travel into that world at the end of the tunnel, can only be achieved by walking down that tunnel." Furuichi had always had that desire, to get a girlfriend and wash her with as much of his love as possible. While he was perverted, Furuichi had his own ideas and dreams of what a romance would have been like. And while sex and appreciation of the female body came to the forefront, there was a rather real undertone of something more.

"I see," Xenovia muttered, "Then I might have to rethink my options. I had originally chosen Issei as the father to my child, as the genes of the Red Dragon Emperor would be necessary for my childs growth, but indeed the ideas you have shown me may reveal Issei to not be the best choice. As I doubt I'd receive as much attention as I would with competing against Buchou and fuku-buchou for his love," she admitted freely. Furuichi's face soured, not liking the idea of the brown-haired kid receiving an increase to his harem. "Yes, with your description, love would be a long and arduous journey, but I don't think Issei can give me that - the 'light at the end of the Tunnel' - with Buchou being the one he is chasing for." She looked curiously at Furuichi, a silent mask of admiration under her face. "You are just like me, but at the same time you're not. I saw it as you walked into school, the feeling of looking at a soldier radiated off you, but you still have thoughts like these. You still understand these 'concepts'. I think, yes, I think that even if its you, even if other girls end up competing for your attention, I think you can give them that journey that they want." Furuichi was surprised at what she was saying, trying to understand what inlt was she was implying, before he felt her hug his arm. His arm was squished between two fleshy mounds, and Furuichi felt the sweat form at the back of his neck.

It felt amazing! The soft feel of a girl pressing herself to his side and the smell of lavender and scented candles only seemed to add to the sensation. To his further surprise, Xenovia looked up at him in a small smile, "I hope you don't mind Lieutenant, but I'll be using you to discover this sensation of being a woman. Maybe at the end of it, I will have my child too!" With those parting words Xenovia stood up and disappeared into the crowd of students.

Furuichi was left on the bench, feeling completely confused at what had just happend. Then Xenovia's words sprang up in his head and tears pricked Furuichi eyes.

Oh God! Sweet and king God above! Even if you have died he would pray to you forever for bequitting him with such blessings. A bishoujo! More than that! A female knight has just sworn her word to fall in love with him. Furuichi's happiness threatened to spill over and drown the school. This beautiful school where romance and harems seemed rife.

He could see it! At the end of this tunnel he'd bave his own harem!

 _ **HIS OWN HAREM!**_

Students passing by were slightly amazed and befuddled at the sparkles that now drifted around the aura of a boy dressed like a soldier in the courtyard. This was only amplified by the big goofy open-mouthed smile that he made.

He would have kept at it, really he would have, if not for Saji who was stepping into view, looking puzzled at Furuichi's current state. "Uh, Furuichi-san, are you feeling well?"

"Never better!" Furuichi replied as he ose off the ground, a wide smile on his face as he set his clothes straight unconsciously. All the fatigue he felt was washed away as he realised, that _finally_ , a girl had an interest in _him_. And not the other way around.

Saji seemd to hesitate for a moment before handing Furuichi a slip of paper. The Lieutenant took it with only a brief look of confusion. "It's the room that the Pillar Baron, Kirin I think his name was, suggested from Kaichou. I think he said it was necessary as a base for you. Kaichou can't just hand out rooms willy-nilly, so she gave you a part of the old school building with Gremory-san and her peerage."

"Oh?" he said warily. That meant he was going to have to be training in school too, but at least he'd be closer to the Gremory group this way. Sighing, Furuichi waved Saji away and headed towards his new hellhole. Bunking classes was fine anyways, Elim as teaching him what he'd be skipping while she trained him in magic.

While he was walking, Furuichi more felt than he saw the eyes tracking his every movement. A piece of his soul, the demonic parts of them, reached out in search of what it was. Bursting and wanting to fight it, while other parts of his soul, the water spirit, gently swayed and abated the rising lust for destruction. He winced, hoping that he hid enough of it that he hadn't garnered the suspicion of whoever was watching him, and continued on his way.

As he passed through the doors to the old school building, the feeling of the eyes vanished, and Furuichi's warring souls finaly stilled.

For all the good things happening to him lately, Furuichi had realised that Lady Iris was right. It came with being weird. Probably God's way of compensating him.

 **A/N: This is slightly filter. Since this arc in the volume was basically introduction, romance, and, growth in the LN, I figured I'd do the same here. You can see the beginnings of Furuichi's harem forming and his new abilities and skills taking shape.**

 **The thing about Xenovia was that she originally chased issei because he was the closest available male and because he had Dragon 'genes' in him for her child. But, like written above, her relationship with Issei became a little more like crack as time moved on, with Irina and Asia gaining more headway from her attempts than she was. As somebody who wants to experience the things that were omitted from her from the beginning, this really didn't provide her much in terms of romance. Xenovia runs off logic, however warped it may be sometimes, so I thought her simple reasoning and deduction of her situation was more than enough for her to set her sights on Furuichi. And unlike Issei he'd probably be a much better option for all the girls in his own harem, because Furuichi isn't just a tits man, he's also an ass man, and these two loves will probably spur him to split his attention between all the girls.**

 **Somebody asked if Furuichi was going to get a 'Legal' wife. Now I'm not really sure. I have a plan for Furuichi's harem, when you start putting stuff down it starts changing a lil but. So we'll wait and see.**

 **WDO345 signing out.**


	11. Chapter 11

Furuichi ducked under a harsh strike, springing up to his feet to block a straight jab for his chin. Rolling with the blow, he twisted on his hands and tried to kick his opponent in the gut. Kirin had expected it and blocked it with his tonfa, bringing his leg up to counterattack and landing a hit square on Furuichi's head. He blinked his eyes as his head snapped back, trying his best to stem the onslaught of bleariness as he spun his tonfas in his hands to block three more strikes aimed for his vitals. The two Pillars disengaged, Furuichi stumbling backwards while Kirin merely jumped, and took a small breather as they waited for another chance to strike.

Furuichi panted as he stared at Kirin. The older male didn't seem winded or otherwise harmed from their bout, while Furuichi sported several new bruises and cuts on his body. The Pillar had told Furuichi that throughout their time training with one another, or really it should be called physical wailing, that he would not go easy on him. It was on thing to be told it, and a completely other thing to have it being done to you.

Furuichi blocked the second shot, twisted around, and ducked underneath Kirin's outstretched hand. He swiped his hand right, aiming to elbow the older Pillar's gut but his attempt was blocked and was countered with a high kick to his head. Furuichi stumbled back, dazed, and didn't manage to parry the next hit in time.

He hit the ground with a thud, and was able to roll back onto his feet. He blinked back the dizziness and refocused his eyes onto a grinning Kirin who stood there with a wide smirk on his lips. His stance was wide open, mockingly so, and the way he swung his arms showed restlessness that bordered laziness. It was an insult directed straight at him, and one Furuichi was only able to recognise due to the burning rage that overtook his soul as the vampire side started demanding for blood. Furuichi resisted the urge as the calmer parts of his soul started to temper the raging fire.

He clicked his tongue and repositioned his legs. False experience and knowledge filtered through his mind, and he tried his best to focus solely on that part of his soul. Strangely, Furuichi thought about how he had never felt something like this before. He had been mostly ignorant as to how a soul would feel like, but as of now, since his soul was now an eldritch abomination, Furuichi became acutely aware as to how a soul felt like. He played host to a variety of types after all, and was thus now foreign in his own body as his original soul collided with these different brands, each bearing different staples and stereotypes of their kind. He could blame his ignorance on the subject of souls till recently, but Furuichi had slightly marveled at how bright his human soul was and consequently how the more supernatural parts contrasted darkly against his original soul.

He felt Kirin's piece on his soul begin to spread and reach across his body. The tonfa in his hands was gripped tighter, and he felt himself form the stance that Kirin had taught him. It was imperfect, a sham, and even though Furuichi was trying his hardest to emulate the secrets that Kirin's soul tried to feed him, he couldn't quite get it down right. But it was enough, _and that was all that mattered._

He reacted, striding forward and pushing his tonfa into a straight jab. Kirin slapped it away and Furuichi rolled with it to build momentum in his other hand. The Demon parried the second hit, and then another, and then another. Each time Kirin blocked one hand, another came to hit him on the other side.

The Demon grunted, and using both hands he knocked Furuichi back. The white-haired Lieutenant brought his right leg back to stop himself from stumbling backward and tried to knee Kirin in between the legs. It was blocked and Furuichi hopped back to prepare another tactic.

He focused harder on Kirin's soul, stretching it across his own and trying to force it to unlock the proper movements, stances, and tactics to him. For a moment it worked, his stance shifted slightly - small movements that could go unnoticed - but they were there. Then Kirin's soul was beat back by the vampire as it surged against its natural enemy, while the water spirit and the youkai inside him tried to quell the sudden civil war before it attracted the dryad and the fae.

Furuichi dropped his tonfas at the sudden war, his body twitching in silent pain as Kirin's little slice of soul was beaten back with such fervent ferocity. He was unable to react to Kirin clotheslining him into the ground, and was forced to concede defeat as the wind rushed out of his lungs.

"Lost control again?" Kirin asked calmly. His answer was a gurgle of noises as Furuichi grabbed his stomach. Kirin made a sigh and gestured for Elim, who was chewing on a lollipop in a corner, to heal Kirin.

"Mou~, this is the third time today! You're tiring me out Furuchin!" Elim complained.

Even in his state of dreariness Furuichi was still very impressive in his vocal skills, "Don't say stuff like that."

"That was a pretty weak Tsukkomi," Kirin commented.

"Bite me, I'm panting on the floor curled up into a ball," Furuichi huffed. Kirin raised an eyebrow at him, and the young teenager didn't even need a second to know what he had done. "I regret everything."

"Geez, stay still and stop crying!" Elim waved her wand, which Furuichi knew to be ridiculous since she really didn't need a wand, and cast a healing spell over his body. It boosted his slightly higher healing rate thanks to the Water Spirit inside him, and sealed most of his injuries before they became life threatening. Feeling his body return to its proper state, as a teenage boy should be in, Furuichi rose to his full height and pulled his jacket over his body. His body felt colder than usual, another side effect of having a vampire soul strapped inside him and his human body sadly made the feeling very uncomfortable.

"I don't know how to get around the problem," Furuichi admitted as he pulled his jacket even tighter around him, "No matter how much I pull on your experience and your knowledge, the rest of my body horribly rejects it. Learning the stance and the forms doesn't even change anything, it pulls on the soul just as much as I would have trying to do it myself and my body would reject it again. This is so frustrating!" It really was, no matter how much Furuichi tried, his own _soul_ seemed to be making things difficult for him.

"You'll find a way around it," Kirin said, fixing his tonfas onto his back. "You just need time." Furuichi smiled weakly and fixed his uniform as Elim started preparing the next part of his lessons. The magic, which Furuichi called freaky occult math, was just as terrible as the physical abuse.

"Alright, where were we?" Elim pulled out a large book, which was ripped and looked worn with use, and started flipping through the pages with reading glasses on her face. "You already know the theory with most of the summoning magic I thought you, but because of how unique your contract is, I think it's best for you to learn some teleportation magic too! First, recite to me the basic summoning magic and the formula."

"Save me." Kirin smirked but otherwise did nothing of the sort for Furuichi. Whining pitifully, Furuichi resigned himself to the mental abuse that he would suffer in the place of the tiny witch. Before anything else could be mentioned however, there was a soft knocking on the door. The gathered people all turned to the source, and were only partially surprise to see Lamia there with a small frown on her face.

"Geez I was looking everywhere for you guys," she said as she strode into the room. Kirin shrugged his shoulder unapologetically as he stared at her.

"I wrote a memo," he said indifferently.

"Where?!" Lamia replied exasperatedly. Kirin reached into his pocket and pulled out a yellow sticky note before handing it to Lamia.

"There," Kirin said nonchalantly, "I just forgot to put it in a place for you to find, but better late than never." Furuichi became concerned as a tick formed on Lamia's forehead, both for Kirin and Lamia if she managed to go through with it.

"Ugh nevermind. How long have you guys been here?" She asked as she walked up to Furuichi. He chuckled awkwardly as she pushed him into a seat and started running tests on his body.

"I skipped most of the first few classes, and took the middle two periods as a break, so I'd say for at least three hours," he admitted freely. "Why, is there a problem?" It was after school now anyway.

"Of course there is!" Lamia said irritably, "We're still unsure of the limits to your body, and over-stressing it like this could lead to unforeseen side-effects!"

Furuichi laughed sheepishly as he scratched the back of his neck. The little pinkette assumed Lecturing Position #2, with her hands on her hips and her legs spread apart. "Listen here Furuichi! You're not as dumb as Oga, so you don't have an excuse for being so beat up and disregarding your own health! Don't go trying to get yourself killed for the stupid excuse of getting stronger."

"Of course not! I'm not the main hero of some ecchi, shounen anime!" Furuichi yelled. Lamia seemed to sag in relief at that, her worries sated for now, but didn't let go of her harsh demeanor.

"What about your plans for the Maous arrival? Have you figured that out?!" For some reason or another, Lamia had been quizzing him on basic tactics and planning. 'Qualities of an Officer,' she said, and while he felt grateful for her concern, he had to wonder why now of all times did she express it so willingly.

"Kirin will shadow the Maous, while I shadow the Gremory group. Leviathan-sama had personally sent a message to Behemoth that she would handle Sitri-san's group, and Elim will be monitoring the situation from the sky," Furuichi said, a repetition of the many other times he had recited it that day alone with Kirin, "During class time, Kirin and I will split up and patrol around the buildings for any traps or the like."

Lamia bit the side of her lip as she crossed her arm, her eyes closed in thought. Furuichi glanced at Kirin, but the experienced Pillar didn't seem to mind her actions, so Furuichi chose to ignored it as well. "The Maous will be here tomorrow for the visit, are your parents coming Furuichi?" Lamia asked.

"Yea they will, but I doubt they'd come to see me. They'll probably just come to watch Honoka," Furuichi muttered. He slipped his arms into his jacket and clipped the buttons into place. His jacket wrapped snugly around his newly acquired muscles, and the Lieutenant was still slightly uncomfortable with the sudden bulk. He shook the feeling away and looked at Honoka, who seemed to be blushing for some reason. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Of course I am!" she said quickly, "Here, mother asked me to give you this." With speed that Furuichi didn't know she had, Lamia pushed a pin to his chest and disappeared out the door. Blinking in surprise, Furuichi glanced down at the pin that she had given him. It was of a dagger that resembled a tanto in its sheath, with a snake coiled around it. The head of the snake rested at the top ot the hilt and it was entirely colored a dull gold.

"That's the pin of the Serpent Guards. It denotes members of the Pillar Squad who act as aides or elite members that serve under the Pillar Barons directly. The Pillars Generals have some commandment over them too, however their rank is technically equal - though the General's are senior officers. I too am a Serpent Guard under Jabberwock," Kirin said as he noted the unique design. "She giving this to you means that she probably convinced her mother on your abilities and potential."

"Why would she do that?" Furuichi asked, befuddled. Kirin only looked at Furuichi blankly for a moment, sighing as his opinions were cemented.

"I can understand it perfectly fine, since she has her own position as Laymia's daughter to worry about. Even though she is an apprentice to the Blackjack, it is not enough. You'll need to climb the social ladder as well if all her hard work would not be for naught."

"I don't mind climbing up the hierarchy, it's just I didn't expect her to be so enthusiastic about it for me," Furuichi muttered. With a shrug he clipped the pin on his left side, and ran his hand over his sleeve to smooth the edges.

"Geez, for someone who's a mob character you really are clueless sometimes!" Elim said in exasperation. A knocking on the door drew their attention again, and Furuichi was further surprised to find Xenovia there. Remembering his earlier conversation with her, Furuichi couldn't help but blush happily as he approached her with a goofy smile.

Xenovia noticed the two others in the room as she confidently strode into the room. "Did I interrupt a meeting between you and your superiors? I apologise if so." Always so blunt, like a true knight. It was a refreshing atmosphere to be in.

"Not at all," Kirin said, "We were wrapping up actually."

"Ehhh?! But I haven't given my lesson yet!" Elim exclaimed. She stomped her foot on the ground grumpily as she bit her lip. "What's the point of getting a doctorate if I'm not gonna use it!"

Furuichi was a little surprised at that. No! Is it right for a little girl like her to so nonchalantly declare that she had a doctorate. There were people in their early thirties who still worked hard for that recognition. This was beyond the level of ridiculousness.

Furuichi would have said something had Xenovia not pull on his sleeve. "Regardless, I come bearing a message from Sona-kaichou. With regards to the planned meeting with the Maous, she asks that the Pillars assist the Student Council by checking the area of the town for any signs of magical interference or the type. The Student Council will prioritize sweeping the school."

Checking the town? Indeed, that would be the task most suited for the unrelated Pillars to be assigned. But Xenovia hadn't let go of her sleeve, and instead looked up at Furuichi with a fire in her eyes. "Also, I would like to spend some time with Takayuki. I was informed that a date at the starting stages of a courtship is too heavy-handed, so I would request that Takayuki escort me home!"

"T-Takayuki!" Furuichi spluttered, grabbing his throat in embarrassment at having a beautiful girl so confidently say his name like that. Elim, who had stepped up to stand next to Kirin, had her hand up against her mouth and an excited blush dusting her cheeks. Her eyes gained a starry light as she appreciated the drama in front of her. Kirin seemed completely nonplussed.

"Is it wrong?" Xenovia asked, her face still the determined mask she had on when she walked in, "As I have decided that I would strive to become your lover, such shows of affection would be common. Perhaps a nickname? Taka? Furu-san? But that's pretty silly."

"I think you broke him," Elim commented idly as she stared at the dumbstruck face of Furuichi. In all seriousness, Furuichi was the happiest he had been in a long time; in fact, you could say he is the happiest man alive at the moment.

"N-no, I'm fine," Furuichi quickly amended. Though Furuichi was still unsure to the use of his name, in some ways, it was just too much but it was also amazingly refreshing! "Just surprised is all."

Xenovia nodded in resolution and then pulled Furuichi out of the room. "Then let us head home together!" she said, no, exalted would be a better word. Elim had said something behind their backs, but Furuichi was too busy memorising the soft feel of Xenovia's hands to notice. The loitering students on school grounds staying back for club meetings were given the treat to see the school's newest bishoujo drag the military school transfer student out of the old school building by his hand, and both Motohama and Matsuda were crying as they watched the not-so-handsome student be dragged away. At once, they both decided to shave their heads and join the military. Of course, they were not the main characters of the story, so in all honesty, you shouldn't be giving a shit about them.

"Oh," Furuichi said, stopping Xenovia at the gate of the school. "Where exactly do you live Xenovia? Is it somewhere nearby my house?" Furuichi asked. Xenovia paused, cupping her chin as she thought about it.

"Actually, I'm living in the old school building for the time being," Xenovia admitted.

"Eh! Then you live in the school? How in any way is this ok?! Rather than that, where am I supposed to escort you to?" Xenovia huffed as she placed her hands on her hips.

"It leaves us with no choice. I'll simply follow you to your house, since I live in school," she said, as though it was perfectly normal. Furuichi sweatdropped at her assured expression.

"W-wait a minute, are you escorting me?" Furuichi asked.

"For the sake of romance, we have to reach a compromise," she stated evenly. The sweatdrop grew bigger, but even then, there was something to be appreciated in Xenovia's straightforwardness and calm logic. Well, even if it does take away the moment. "By the way, why are we waiting by the gate?"

"Oh, right," Furuichi chuckled awkwardly, "Sorry, you'll have to accommodate for an extra. My little sister goes to Kuoh too, so we'll be walking home with her," he stated. Xenovia seemed surprised by that, as she looked up at him with wide eyes.

"You have a sister?" she asked, almost in a whisper, "Is she a member of the Pillars as well?"

He shook his head in the negative, "No, she's a normal human being. She's completely unrelated to the supernatural world." Whatever surprise Xenovia had at him having a sister was only increased when she heard that.

"Don't tell me you've somehow managed to keep your status as a contract holder a secret from your family!" she said. "Surely they must have seen the signs, or you would have to have explain some of it!"

Furuichi scratched his head, idly wondering what the big deal was. Oga was able to hie his contract with Beelzebub, and it was with one of the Maous kid to boot. He didn't really think his contracts compared to that. "Being a contract holder wasn't something I expected to happen. It just did, and I had to familiarise myself with using it quickly so I guess I just didn't have the time. Though I don't quite understand why I should tell them anything at all?"

Xenovia quietly mulled over his words, a curious glint in her eyes. "No, it's alright. It's just most contract holders are solitary people, ranging drom Magicians to outcasts. They would usually be people with 'the desires to want something' stronger than any other human being. It's not like the contracts we hand out on our fliers, contracts like these should be more personal and be so demanding so as to allow the contractor to succefully bind the Devil in 'The Agreement'. And you say you had contracted with all of the Pillars too," she grabbed her chin, her eyes narrowed in deep thought, as she bore a hole into Furuichi's head. Furuichi blushed and stuttered at the attention he was getting, turned away in embrassment.

Xenovia seemed to caught on to something as she asked, "You said you had to familiarise yourself with your contract, why?"

Furuichi blinked and his response was almost immediate, "Oga needed me."

"Oga?"

"Sorry, a friend needed my help," he clarified, "not that it was much help," he added as a bitter afterthought. No more words could be exchange, though Furuichi did note _something_ lighting up in Xenovia's eyes, and both the two second-years had turned in surprise when a shocked presence had entered their bubble.

"N-nii-san! W-who is this?" Honoka asked, her mouth ajar in shock as she stared at the beautiful Knight in front of her.

"O-oh Honoka, this is Xenovia she's my cla-"

"I am Takayuki's lover," Xenovia interjected.

"T-T-T-Takayuki!" Honoka spluttered. Furuichi sweatdropped, hoping that he could somehow salvaged the situation.

"I-it's not like that," he tried to amend quickly, "She's just joking around!"

"Not at all, I fully intend to have Takayuki be the father to my children," Xenovia stated. At that point both Furuichi and Honoka were on he verge of fainting, one from shock while the other from all the shocking news throughout the day.

"Ho-Honoka, l-let's just head home and talk about this there alright?" His sister could only nod dumbly, and Furuichi felt slightly bad at all the things he was putting her through. They walked silently down the way back to their apartment, or the Furuichi's apartment at least.

Honoka was still stunned at the new revelation, while Furuichi felt incredibly awkward. Xenovia seemed unaffected, in fact she was curently leaning her head on his shoulder, smiling slightly as she snuggled her cheeks against him.

It felt great! The fact his rght arm was in between her boobs was an added bonus. He was in absolute contentment.

If it weren't for the whistling sound of a blade heading towards him.

The sound of skin being pierced, blood spilling, and a scream filled the air.

 **THIS TOOK SO LONG TO WRITE**! **And it was so hard to write!** _ **And I still don't like it!**_ **But after five revisions I guess this was as good as you were going to get.**

 **I did say this was going to growth between character relationships and Furuichi as a whole. The first few trials (and I mean trials) with Xenovia are going to be awkward but hey that's her charm.**

 **Of course Lamia is slowly buy surely wheezling her way into there.**

 **At the same time we larn more about Furuichi's current condition, and how much it reflects his nature with his Sacred Gear, 'Fracture Image' and 'Shattered Mirror'. I won't get into it too much in AN but this is a development of Furuichi's power as a person, so while there are some things I can't change, I would like to see your comments on has just been such a welcoming flood of support that I was honestly surprise, I thought the internet would gut me at every turn.**

 **Of course in some ways this was set up for future instances. A thing about his fic is that the politics that were somewhat covered in the LNs would be expanded upon since Furuichi is now standing at the very divide between supernatural and normalcy.**

 **Anyways sorry this took so long, but you know the chapter didn't want to come out the way I wanted it too.**

This is WDO345 signing out.


	12. Chapter 12

Honoka screamed, her eyes wide in shock as she stared at her brother's arm, where a silver dagger was currently impaled on. The guard and pommel was made to resemble a cross and there was some smoke being emitted from the wound.

Her brother hissed something, and she was worried that maybe the dagger might be burning him- how it was doing that she didn't know -and reached out to try and help him. But to her surprise he merely pulled the blade out of his left arm- which was fake but she didn't know that -and looked out into the distance, searching for his attacker.

Seeing her brother not screaming in pain had surprised Honoka, but that paled in comparison to how she was feeling now that she got a good look at her brother. He had the knife in a reverse-hand grip, eyes staring defiantly at wherever he was looking, and his injured left arm was hanging by his side, not even a flinch to show for the new wound.

This was utterly _wrong_ , her mind screamed. Her brother would not have pulled a knife out of his arm without even flinching. He would not have assumed a slightly hunched position, keeping the knife at hip level, and looked prepared to fight someone. Her brother would have started screaming, flailing his hands as he would yell and scream in absurdity, but never would he appear as calm as he was now. "Honoka," Furuichi muttered, and his voice was deceptively calm for a person who had his arm impaled by a knife. No wait! That's not right at all! A person shouldn't be able to so calm about having his arm impaled! At the very least a normal person, no, even a not-normal person would be flinch at having their arm impaled! "Look away and close your eyes. Xenovia will take you some place safe," her brother stated.

"Takayuki," Xenovia muttered, gripping Furuichi's shoulder as she frowned in grim concentration. Honoka felt like the odd one out, where she was the only one behaving like a normal person would after being attacked. "What should we do?"

Her brother, however, only gave Xenovia a small- though she couldn't help but think it was meaningful -glance. Then his eyes turned towards her, his eyebrows slanted just enough to show he was angry and determined. "Honoka," Furuichi muttered, "You should hurry home right away, there's no telling what might happen now." The way he said that, his voice hard and laboured, and knife glinting in his grasp froze Honoka.

She stared at him, and for a moment the images surrounding him flickered. The streetway disappeared to show a warehouse, and her brother's eyes turned dark black. Then it vanished, and the only thing that Honoka felt was the intense _wrongness_ that radiated off her brother. An ice cold atmosphere, rimmed by fiery anger, and topped with cool spirit seemed to wash over her as her brother emitted... _something._

"Xenovia will escort you home okay?" Furuichi said, "I'll go get the authorities to make sure these tricksters don't get away."

"But-" Honoka was cut off as Xenovia placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, a small placating smile on her face.

"Your Nii-san is very strong Honoka, you don't have to worry," Xenovia said. The youngest Furuichi couldn't believe that, as she was in the opinion that her brother was Oga's lackey and thus, expendable as a useless side character. But before she could voice her opinions, Xenovia spoke up again, staring at her brother's back. "Are you sure you don't want me to help you?"

Her brother shook his head. "Keep Honoka safe, she's mom and dad's pride and joy." Xenovia nodded her head and tightened her grip on Honoka's shoulder. "Before you leave Xenovia. This knife belongs to your old profession, doesn't it?"

Honoka glanced at the dagger that Furuichi raised up, and she realised that it was designed in the shape of a cross with the end of it sharpened to a fine point.

"Maybe," Xenovia said, "But it's not the usual equipment. It could be an independent person following in our footsteps."

"Alright then," Furuichi said with a nod. "Take Honoka home, it's a few blocks from here. I, on the other hand, will call the 'authorities'."

"Roger," Xenovia replied. At that moment, Honoka couldn't help but compare the two of them as soldiers in an active warzone. The way they moved didn't seem like how normal people would, and there was something soldier-like in their gaze. "Come along Honoka-san, we must make haste to your house."

"B-but we can't just-" again she was interrupted as he brother placed a hand on her head and gently pushed it back.

"I'll be fine Honoka. I've survived worse with Oga!" She didn't get to say a reply as Xenovia pulled on her sleeve and forced her away. She blinked as she stared back at her brother, but he didn't even glance at her. Instead she caught glimpse of his back, straight, imposing, and unyielding.

XXXXXXX

"Whoever you are, the others have left," Furuichi said quietly, knowing whoever was out there could more than likely hear him. While he talked, he prepared the formula that Elim had taught him and focused on it as hard as he could while channeling energy throughout his body. "Come out now. That trick with the knife won't affect me at all. You're better off facing me in person."

The knife, while not a Light Sword, was still painful for him. His arm being fake meant he felt nothing, but the Vampire soul in him was sent into a howling mess at the religious symbol. It seemed to claw its way to the other side of Furuichi's soul before the Water Spirit could properly isolate the holy energy that would have been harmless to normal human beings- well, besides having a sharp pointy object inside you. Furuichi gripped his sides, and for a moment he thought he could hear a faint annoyed yelling but shook that thought away as the person he had been eyeing appeared out of the bushes.

"Sorry about that, but I was curious if that would work. Never fought against a devil contractor before," the newcomer, a man, said. He was dressed in a casual overcoat, a black suit underneath, and an expressionless face marred by stubble. "Of course new experiences aren't bad things."

"Who are you?" Furuichi asked. While he did that, he mentally tweaked the formula in his mind and pulled a little bit more power from the King's Crest. "And what are you doing here?"

The man tilted his head, and laughed. "I'll give you your time to do what you need," he said, but it didn't reassure Furuichi at all. "My name is Pierre Everhart, I am an associate of the Khaos Brigade, specifically the Rogue Mage Faction."

"Khaos Brigade?" Furuichi asked, but didn't say anything more as he readied his stance.

"They're the enemies that have been operating here lately," Hecadoth, the Pillar he had summoned, said as he crossed his arms. "They're a terrorist group that's been trying to upset the balance of the Underworld ever since the end of the Civil War."

"Well not my faction, the Khaos Brigade only came into being recently," Pierre explained, "I am just a neutral party hired by one faction. A fundamental aspect of the Khaos Brigade you must understand, is that each faction has their own goals and principles."

"You can see Hecadoth?" Furuichi asked, partially astonished.

"I am a magician afterall. We make pacts with devils to further our research, so it is only natural we can see through any or most forms of summoning. Though, I'm not the scientific type."

"What do you want with the Lieutenant then?" Hecadoth asked.

"It's not me that wants anything from him," Pierre replied, "My employers, however, are a different story. You're a troublesome player all by yourself, disregarding the fact that the Current Maous have several already troublesome Sacred Gears with them. Not too mention, your a contractor that is currently within the King's Crest System. Add to that your abnormal Balance Breaker, and it was more than obvious that you'd garner their attention." He shrugged his shoulder, "Me though, I'm just in it for the pay. I've long since dropped my robes for more practical ventures."

"Like mercenary work?" Hecadoth asked.

"You could say that," Pierre laughed, "Though a mercenary wouldn't really step out if asked by his enemy, unless he has an ulterior motive."

"What are you trying to say?" Furuichi asked, staring at him intensely. His body fell onto he stance that Kirin had taught him, and he was prepared to allow Hecadoth's power to surge through him.

"Whatever it is you think I'm trying to say," the man shrugged, "It isn't up to me after all." Suddenly, he leapt backwards, pulling two pistols out from behind his back and firing at Furuichi. The lieutenant blanched and dropped to the ground to avoid the incoming bullets, and as they whizzed by, he realised that they were on fire.

"Casting spells on flying objects like that, this guy has some kill," Hecadoth admitted. Furuichi twisted and dodged another bullet aimed for his head, immensely thankful for his new physique and pillaged skills. "Furuichi, let me in your body!"

Furuichi acknowledged the command with a sweatdrop and a sigh of exasperation as Hecadoth entered his body. Immediately he felt the new parts of his soul shift and react to the sudden entry, with the most violent being the Vampire- surprise, surprise -and a yokai. For a moment Furuichi thought that Hecadoth would be ejected, but then he heard a voice in his mind.

|Collating saved data|

|Data established|

|Activating Sub-Protocol|

|Converting|

This time, rather than having Hecadoth get disassembled and merged into Furuichi's body, he instead shined bright, and began filling out Furuichi's body as he normally would. The other parts of his body stilled, and to his astonishment, the different supernatural creatures inside him shined brightly, trying to mimic a human soul. While it was paltry in comparison, it was enough to allow Hecadoth to inhabit Furuichi's body without trouble.

" **That was...interesting** ," Furuichi muttered in confusion. Another trio of bangs and he was forced to jump and land onto a nearby wall as the dangerous flame bullets impacted the ground on the other side of the road. " **I can feel some resistance in my body, but it's certainly less than I would have originally thought**."

"Oh? Have you gotten serious already?" Pierre asked, staring at him. "Good, good, I can't collect good data otherwise." He leapt forward, arms reaching behind him, and palmed two daggers in his hand. He tossed them at Furuichi, who dodged one and slapped the other one away. He hissed when his skin burned with the contact, and he glanced down at his palm that was smoking. "That dagger is doused with Holy Water, and while it doesn't affect you as a human, when you have a demon inside you and supplying you power, it's effectiveness rises."

" **A sound and tactical mind** ," Furuichi commentated.

"All I did was throw a knife."

" **Yet had I dodged to the left then I would have activated a trap that would blow my entire bottom leg up** ," Furuichi commented, motioning his head towards the elaborate magical trap drawn across the side of the wall. This was why Hecadoth suited Furuichi the most, as playing in tune to the fact that Furuichi couldn't tank like how Oga or the other Demons could, Hecadoth played most battles smart and tight, keeping his cards close to his chest and studying his opponent.

Pierre seemed to smirk, his eyes gleaming in the night. "You certainly live up to your reputation. A rampaging brute, a sarcastic technique-user, and a calm-minded strategist. Truly a man with a Hundred Faces."

Furuichi frowned, and narrowed dangerously slit eyes as he stared at the man. " **How do you know that title?** "

"I asked around," Pierre said cryptically. "You'd be surprised at the information you can gather."

" **Surprising indeed** ," Furuichi replied. Pierre smiled and then bowed to him.

"Now, I'm sure you and I have more to analyse from each other. Would you like the first punch or should I?" He asked. Furuichi tilted his head, and then nodded it at Pierre. "Me first then!"

With surprising exuberance, Pierra launched himself at Furuichi with reckless abandon. Furuichi dodged the attack, but to his surprise it turned into a mirage- dispersing with a brief show of Magic -and Pierra was instead above him, poised with another blade.

Furuichi pulled his tonfa out of his sleeve, but his knowledge and experience that he would usually gain from Kirin's soul was absent, and instead he was forced to defend the attack with what he had learned from Kirin on his so far week-long training.

He parried the strike with some difficulty, barely avoiding a graze on his cheek, and steadied himself on the other side of the wall as Pierre landed gracefully opposite him, coat fluttering in the wind. " **Neat trick. Not many Magicians are so cunning,** " Furuichi complimented.

"I'm a dime a dozen, not many can boast my skills," Pierre replied and surged forward with his dagger. Another strike and Furuichi parried it with his tonfa. With the training Kirin had given him, Furuichi's body was almost capable of holding of all the strikes; keyword being almost.

Pierre twisted the knife in his grasp, and had easily disarmed Furuichi. In response, he dropped his remaining tonfa and slammed his shoulder into Pierre's gut. The man rocked backwards, and Furuichi's remaining arm shot forward and landed three consecutive blows to his abdomen.

Hecadoth's style of fighting, mirrored Furuichi life with Oga up till that point. Furuichi had always had the soundest mind on how to get out of a situation, mostly being the fights Oga usually gets involved would lead to his brutal demise. Furuichi thinks, and through thinking, he escapes. Hecadoth provided that same opportunity, however, Hecadoth thinks to eliminate his opponent in the most decisive way possible. That was why the two were so good together. It combines the efficiency of Hecadoth's fighting style, with the speed and sane logic of Furuichi.

So in disorienting Pierre with the strikes to his stomach, the would-be assassin was unable to defend Furuichi kicking his knee, breaking the bone. Furuichi would have cringed in slight discomfort, but Hecadoth continued to surge power through Furuichi- giving his blows more force and seeking release. The neck hit landed on Pierre's right shoulder, dislocating the arm, and Furuichi grabbed Pierre and tossed him into the ground head first.

Furuichi spun in place, hands raised level with his face. " **Would you like to go on?** " That was a rhetorical question. Furuichi aimed at the area that would quickly immobilise Pierre and cause the most sudden and greatest amount of pain to dissuade him from continuing the fight. It was a way of fighting only capable when Furuichi was paired with Hecadoth. Two distinctly different mindsets of battle, aiming for one goal; to escape the battle as quickly as possible. Through running or victory, either way counts.

"On the contrary!" Pierre said, spitting out blood, "You've done me a great service. I would have liked to garner more data, but I was lucky that you chose to spare me now if this is the minimum of your abilities." A large magic circle appeared underneath Furuichi, and the lieutenant tried to jump out when it lit up in his face.

He twisted his foot, and while he could have merely punched his way out, that would have required too much Demonic Energy and time, so Furuichi used the logical part of his brain. He broke the circle. By overflowing it with Demonic Energy.

Unlike Demon Magic, which was powered by creation and imagination, Human Magic was powered by logic and understanding. Demon Magic, that which cannot be understood and applies with it no laws but one's own self, and Human Magic, that which is governed by a system of cause and effect, are naturally opposite of each other. While Human Magic and Demon Magic are compatible, considering it was man's attempt at harnessing demonic energy, one cannot exist within the same medium as the other. They're two different, even if their effects are the same.

Thus, the magic circle broke when Furuichi seeped his demonic energy into the line. Normal Magicians or Demons would never think of this, as disrupting a magical circle in that way was unheard of. Mad, if one wasn't so eloquent. Furuichi was able to do it, for the simple fact that Furuichi lived his life like how no other mortal had.

 _As comic relief._

The magic circle exploded. Slamming into Furuichi's face like a jackhammer on steroids, and forced him into the sky. He tried to twist around to land on his feet, but the soles of his boots skidded the ground and instead he landed on the ground; balls first.

" **AGHHH**!" He screamed, clutching his jewels as crumpled to the ground. Meanwhile, Pierre had healed his knee enough that he was able to stand, and he had an amused grin on his face as he watched Furuichi. Sadly his eyesight was blurry from the concentration of magic, and what _should_ be a pitiful sight instead became reminiscent to Arnold Schwarzenegger in the opening scene of Terminator.

"You continue to impress me, Human of the Pillars. Yet your might proves your undoing," Pierre said. Then he disappeared.

Hecadoth excited Furuichi's body, looking unsettled as the lieutenant clutched his jewels. "Are you alright?"

"Do I look alright?!" Furuichi replied heatedly, shimming on the ground in a vain attempt to ward of the pain. "Stuff like this never happens to Oga, so why is it so natural in my fight scenes! Aren't I the protagonist? Shouldn't I be looking cool instead?"

"Rather than," Hecadoth sweatdropped, "Would you rather not check up on the girls? That Magicians last words were disconcerting."

Furuichi's eyes lit up and he nodded in understanding. "Right of course the girls!" It took a while, but before long Furuichi was awkwardly waddling towards his apartment with Hecadoth trailing behind, a stony look on his face as he did.

XXXXXX

When Furuichi returned home, it was to less than ideal circumstances. "Furuichi!" Lamia exclaimed as he passed through the door. Furuichi was immediately on guard and he glanced around the room warily. Lamia looked tired and worn, while Xenovia was sitting on the couch, gnawing at her bottom lip in apparent anxiousness as she stared at Honoka's bedroom. He instantly knew what was wrong.

"Honoka?" Furuichi asked, even as Hecadoth perked up to the situation. Lamia blinked but immediately got down to business, her face hard and eyes sympathetic.

"She's been dealt a harsh blow," Lamia stated, "It wouldn't be okay for you to see her right now." Furuichi frowned, staring at her intensely, before heading straight for the room in question. Lamia didn't stop him, neither did Xenovia, and he didn't quite know how to take their inaction. When he entered the room, it was dark, and Honoka was sitting on her bed, legs up to her chest, and shivering.

"Honoka?" Furuichi asked.

"Nii-san?" Honoka asked, perking up at the sound of his voice. Furuichi turned on the lights, and tried to smile reassuringly at her, keeping his punctured arm behind his back while he did. The effects wasn't what he was expecting.

When her eyes caught sight of Furuichi, they widened to incomprehensible proportions, and she raised her arms defensively in front of her face. She screamed, loudly, and yelled furiously. "Get away! Get away! Get away!" Over and over again. Furuichi was frozen, not knowing what to do, and it was only due to Lamia arriving and pulling him out of the room that stopped Honoka from shouting.

"Honoka! Calm down, it's me Lamia. You're fine! Kokabiel isn't anywhere nearby!" But Honoka didn't respond, and Lamia sighed as she turned off the lights again. "Try and get some sleep Honoka, I'll leave the lights off okay?" She waited for a response again, but when nothing came, she left the room without another word.

Outside, Furuichi was utterly confused and lost. "What happened? What was that?! I mean, I know she doesn't see me in the brightest light but she was screaming as though I was the boogeyman!" Furuichi glanced down at Lamia, and saw her hesitating with her answer.

"It's, well, you see," she struggled.

"It was a spell," Xenovia stated in her place, "One that affected Honoka's mind."

"How?" Furuichi asked, "I was battling Pierre, there was no way he could have done it!"

"Pierre?" Lamia asked, but then shook her head, "Nevermind. The person who did this was of a high level. While you were out in your fight, he used an image of you in Honoka's mind to create a falsified memory. It was an attack aimed directly at Honoka to get to you."

"Why?!" Furuichi yelled.

"Try and understand Furuichi," Hecadoth stated, using Furuichi's name, "You represent an unknown in their plans, in fact, you are currently a big problem. Usually you would mean nothing, but since the Current Maous have the Red Dragon Emperor and other Sacred Gear users at his disposal for the peace meeting, adding you on top of that- with you mutated and abnormal Sacred Gear -it would give them an unprecedented wrench in their plans."

"This is a statement," Xenovia stated, completely oblivious to Hecadoth's words, "To show that they could strike at any time and wherever they want."

Furuichi snorted, "That doesn't mean much when I beat the pulp out of the guy that attacked me!"

However Hecadoth made a sound of disagreement, "That's not it Furuichi. That guy that attacked us was good but at the level this magic was done, this was done by someone with more ability than them. You heard PIerre's last words, he was there to gather information on your capabilities, which meant his ability to defeat you was irrelevant. You can be sure that the next time you fight them, they would be prepared for you."

Furuichi frowned, letting the words sink in, before turning to Lamia. "What exactly happened to Lamia? And what was that all about with Kokabiel?"

Lamia furrowed her brow, and assumed a thinking pose. "Honoka's memory of her time with Kokabiel was not erased, rather, it was buried, yes?" At Furuichi's nod of confirmation she continued on," Now psychologically speaking, Honoka would have been able to go on with life fine if she didn't come across any trigger to resurface those memories. What these magicians did, however, was the opposite. Rather than resurface the buried memories, they reimagined it."

"Wait, how would you do that?! I thought even you guys couldn't get that complicated with your magic," Furuichi interjected.

"Strictly speaking, we can't, at least not with a time constraint, but Honoka has a factor that helps in the process."

"Her repressed memories?" Xenovia asked. Lamia nodded her head.

"Rather than create something from nothing, they replaced a key part of an existing memory with another thing. Now, while this is possible, certain conditions must be met. First and foremost, the thing being replaced and the thing that is taking its place must be able to fill the space left behind. For instance, when Kokabiel attacked us, he displayed some power. Furuichi, when you were attacked by Honoka, you must have leaked some demonic energy of some sort. Or perhaps, during your battle, they were able to transfer the image of you fighting to her somehow, but that's speculation. Anyway, due to your demonic energy, you were able to fill out the overall shape of the Kokabiel in her memory, that being your unnatural pressure caused by your energy. Secondly, the overall feeling of the person. This, while not as important, is still a defining characteristic. It depends on Honoka's perception of the world, and if you, in that brief time that was used to falsify her memory, had caused her to perceive you the same way she perceived Kokabiel, you would have been able to take the place of the Fallen-Angel in the memory. Lastly, how traumatic the event is. The more traumatic the event, the more vivid the details and the effect is greater. Because the memory was so strong, and it impacted her greatly, the switch in details was lost to the overall emotion and severity of the memory that she never noticed the discrepancy in what should be false and what should be true."

"So you're saying Honoka thinks I'm Kokabiel?" Furuichi asked in stunned disbelief.

"Yes, I am," Lamia stated. "I can cure her, if I can take her back to the Fort. Remember when you first visited the fort, and had to enter the memory of that assassin to regain his memories and lose his amnesia? It applies here, except, we're reestablishing her connection to the correct memory," Furuichi frowned.

"Then I'll go immediately!"

"No!" Lamia stated, "You're needed here, and the Fort cannot be prepared for something like this when the Old Maou Faction is running about because of the meeting! We'll have to wait until the end of the meeting before we can properly set up the whole thing so that absolutely _nothing_ hurts Honoka in the process," she accentuated the last part when it looked like Furuichi was about to interrupt her. "The best option for her right now is to wait until we can _safely_ perform the operation on her! Until then we'll have to watch over her!"

"But my parents will come tomorrow! What am I supposed to tell them! I can't just- wait a minute...," Furuichi stopped his sentence and stared at Honoka quizzically. Lamia blinked, staring at him in confusion as he gave her a once-over. She became self-conscious, and crossed her arms as she blushed.

"W-what is it?" Furuichi didn't answer and instead raced into his room. He then returned, with a brown wig, and placed it onto Lamia's head. The pinkette sweatdropped as he began fixing the wig and stepped back to admire his handiwork.

"It's a good thing you grep to Honoka's height," Furuichi muttered and showed her a mirror. Lamia did not look like Honoka at all, in fact the brown hair didn't suit her face, but thanks to her height it could be overlooked. Lamia could understand what Furuichi was doing, and while she had a _lot_ of inhibitions with it, she at least understood in him _trying something_.

 _However_...

"Why did you have a wig in your room?" Lamia asked with an eye twitch.

"Obviously he came prepared for any situation," Xenovia stated, nodding to herself in assuredness.

 **Finally got this chapter out. Thus, we have the effect which Honoka's buried memory comes into play. Now one thing about early DXD that I didn't like was how little the magic system was touched on, and while there was a lot of emphasis on the Peace Meetings and the Old Maous Faction, come on, you can't expect me to believe that there aren't any other Factions coming into play at the same time?**

 **PIerre is an OC, by the way, just to give some magic love in the DxD universe that plays off magic as though a fist is sufficient to beat it. While there is the Church and the Magician organizations, there had to have been freelancing agents as well, wouldn't there? Again, while Furuichi is in the DxD universe, and he is still part of their plot, meaning he'll follow canon routes, Furuichi is the protagonist of his own story, and while the girls he interacts with is with the DxD world, and likewise his harem, his actions and, uh, wooing ways will ultimately follow a different path from Issei and the main plot of DxD, rather through his own story will he earn their love and adoration.**


	13. Chapter 13

"I grow ever curious in the situation you find yourself in, Lieutenant," Kirin muttered sarcastically as he listened to Furuichi's report. In his defence, it wasn't like he had asked for this situation to come. It was completely off the walls even for him, and it hurt to think that his little sister had been exploited in some fashion. "Though it makes me curious as to what exactly our enemies hoped to achieve by driving your sister insane. To divide our attention? Or perhaps some other machinations are at play?"

Furuichi sweatdropped as Kirin began to think deeply on the situation. He was back at school, with Xenovia standing by his side waiting by the gate as Furuichi discussed the situation with Kirin and Elim. "You understand right? Because of the situation, I would greatly appreciate it if one of you two were to watch over Honoka while I deal with the school day."

Kirin glanced at Elim.

"This is so troublesome," Elim pouted, "Why do I have to do it!" In desperation, Furuichi clapped his hands in front of him and bowed his head.

"Please, I'll pull your share of the work so watch over my sister for me, ok?" The young demon huffed and nodded her head sullenly as she kicked the wall. Furuichi sighed in wariness as his worries were slightly lifted from that. A hand grasped his shoulder, and he looked over his shoulder to see Xenovia smiling reassuringly at Furuichi.

"You are doing well under pressure Furuichi," she said. She was trying to comfort Furuichi in her own special way. That's very cute and endearing Xenovia but complimenting him when his sister was half-insane was not the way to go about it! "Quick thinking like that is oft to save lives. Your sister is in good hands, Furuichi. Trust in yourself."

The young boy sighed and glanced down at his hand where the King's Crest lied. Furuichi frowned, and nodded. This was no moment to falter, Furuichi decided, he'll make the best of the situation. "Kirin, with the blatant attack in the day, we would need to redouble our efforts in searching for the enemy."

"No doubt," Kirin agreed, "The statement they gave was loud and clear, and leaving it unchecked would spell doom on us." Furuichi nodded and blinked his eyes as Elim disappeared in a spray of magic, concealing the spectacle with a simple spell. Kirin went off on his assigned patrol route while both Xenovia and Furuichi watched him go.

"Was it wise to speak of your plan out in the open?" Xenovia asked. Furuichi understood what she meant by that, but couldn't help but smile slightly at he calm and determined expression. She reminded him of Kunieda for a bit, except with less of the real world knowledge needed to appear sane.

"It doesn't matter. They've already practically broadcasted to us that they're watching us every step of the way. Pierre was just there to get information, and they obviously sent him because he was the only one who could fight with me on even terms. That means anybody else would be either too weak or too strong, and blatantly attacking me with number or power puts risk on whatever their plan is to disrupt the peace talks," Furuichi explained. These words that fell out of his mouth, sounded so natural in his voice. It honestly worried Furuichi, making it seem as though he was turning native. That was the furthest thing he wanted, to become accustomed to danger and politicking. He had no idea what he wanted to do in life, but it sure as hell wasn't being a soldier or a politician.

Actually, now that he thought about it, Furuichi never did have any thoughts on his future. Never anything beyond staying by Oga's side. Realising that now, he immediately sweatdropped as he envisioned himself in a high-security prison alongside Oga. Perhaps a little more thoughts on his future career should be first on his priorities after all of this was finished and he returned to Ishiyama. If he returned at all.

"I see," Xenovia stated, "I'll be on my way then." She, in a surprising move, stepped towards him and hugged his arm. Her face was eyeing him mechanically, and Furuichi just knew she was contemplating the effect of kissing him. Finally she shook her head, "Not time yet?" she asked herself, "Doesn't feel like it." Then she broke off and said, "See you later, Takayuki-kun."

Furuichi blushed and scratched his cheek, the casual use of his personal name still flustering him. He waved at Xenovia as she disappeared into the school building, and sighed as he turned around to look at his last obstacle for the day.

Hiding behind a lamp post, staring at the ground with a deep scarlet blush on her face, Lamia was trying her best to disappear from the world as she fiddled with the Kuoh Academy uniform. With some makeup, actually a lot of makeup, and some very hefty soles in her shoes, Lamia was almost the same height and skin color as Honoka. She was still a bit slim though, and her face was different to Honoka. Lamia told him she had taken a pill that altered her appearance, but Furuichi couldn't see it. Maybe it had to do with his new powers. "Lamia how long are you planning on hiding there?" He asked.

"For as long as it takes for an asteroid to come and obliterate us all," she stated with an annoyed huff. "Why do I have to do this anyway? Why not just say that Honoka is sick?"

"Because my mom and dad are coming, and if they heard that then they would go to check on Honoka," Furuichi answered. "So even if you don't dress up as Honoka and go to school, you'll have to dress like Honoka and pretend to be sick, under the same roof as the real sick Honoka." Lamia pursed her lips, staring at Furuichi defiantly.

"You've gotten better at arguments," she accused.

Furuichi snorted. "I have lunch with Hecadoth every other thursday, so that's to be expected."

Lamia made an angry humph sound, "What about you? Won't your parents want to check on you? I don't _have_ to go!"

Furuichi paused, and carefully chose his words. "No, Lamia, you really do. I'm a big boy, and mom and dad don't have to watch over me and see me study. Honoka on the other hand? She's their daughter, and she's their pride and joy. They will want to see her more than me."

"You say that as though you're a statistic," she said exasperatedly.

Furuichi smiled bitterly, "No, but I'm not exactly the family favourite. Between me and Honoka, that title goes to her every other day." Lamia paused, glancing up at Furuichi with a cryptic face. Furuichi frowned, deciding that maybe he was talking a little too much, and patted Lamia on the head.

"You and Honoka are practically like the same person anyway," Furuichi stated, "Both of your are sarcastic, annoying, spitfires when you want to be." Lamia huffed, and Furuichi smiled. He waved his hand towards the school. "Come on, the parents will arrive by third period. So you best get prepared."

Lamia nodded her head sullenly, resigned to her fate at Furuichi's suggestion, and moved towards the Academy with purposeful steps. Furuichi watched her go, and felt the edges of his lips curl upwards as she didn't try to appear meek for a second. Instead, her shoulders were held straight and back, with her spine straight and her chin leveled with the ground. It wasn't a cutesy walk, nor was it the walk of a girl walking into a place she felt uncomfortable with. It was the walk of a girl confident in herself and her abilities, and would not allow the world to see her as nothing but the accomplished young woman that she was. Lamia had certainly grown, Furuichi decided, and he lamented these feelings of...pride? Emotion? Congratulations. Furuichi meant what he said a year ago, when he said that Lamia looked more like a woman now. She wasn't exactly young anymore, and by human terms she was close to Honoka's actual age.

"Stay strong," Furuichi muttered in good luck, and rubbed his finger over the Serpent Guard pin on his uniform. With a final sigh, Furuichi glanced at the surrounding streets, wary of watchers, and headed into the school.

He walked into the school building, feeling greatly at home at the silent halls and wide empty space. He flexed his fingers and felt the tonfas under his sleeves rest snugly inside their sheathes. Now that he had accessed to Kirin's soul again, the tonfas felt were now a calming presence on Furuich's person. The souls in his keeping hummed thoughtfully, all of them behaving as they should and not conflicting with each other.

Actually now that he thought about it, Furuichi had never tried to access any other part of his soul beyond Kirin's. It stood to reason that, if he had inherited the skills and abilities of Kirin, albeit not quite fully, then he would have gained some as well from the rest.

Thinking about it, Furuichi now had an accumulated lifespan of at least two to maybe three hundred years, give or take a decade thanks to his use of his Balance Breaker. But even then that number was contested. These weren't full souls of supernatural beings, rather part of them, all mish-moshed onto him. It was completely foreign, never having happened before. He may have the added lifespan of each individual supernatural entity, or halves of each one. The only thing he could draw back on was his rate of cellular decay, and he didn't know nearly enough medical know-how to understand Dr Forcas and Lamia explaining it to him.

Knowing this, it could also stand to reason that since Furuichi had never fully absorbed an actual supernatural entity to gain these traits, they could very well be blank slates just mimicking other supernatural beings. Having no actual memories to share with Furuichi.

He decided he'd check for himself. With a smart about face, he made his way towards the bathroom, and eyed his reflection on the other side. He still had his silver hair, his boyish looking face, and unassuming posture beneath the uniform. But there was now an added edge to his jawline, a wrinkle in his eyebrow, a squareness to his shoulders, that seemed alien on Furuichi. Alien to the Furuichi that originally never had a reason to be in the occult beyond supporting Oga.

With a sigh, Furuichi delved into his soul. If Furuichi had to give a rough estimate to the size of his soul, he would say it was as large as a monument the egyptians would make for their kings. It was tall, with a near endless surface area to make way for these new bits stitched on. The supernatural parts of his soul were all jumbled up away from each other. Some were close together, appearing to Furuichi as allies in their new world, while others stood isolated, daring anyone to come near them. It looked like staring at the world map, except he had traveled back in time to the cold war.

The souls on Furuichi's body, more or less had been put there for a purpose. The water spirit and dryad were to heal and mend Furuichi's body from the fight with Kokabiel and to possibly deal with any damage to his body on a cellular level caused by the **Fractured Image.** The Vampire gave him better capacity to hold demonic energy. The Fae -the Faeries, the Fair Folk, the Winged Divines- acted as a conduit, a mediator between Furuichi and the other parts of his body. Like legends, the Fae essentially became 'Queen', an authority that could not be challenged, and was making sure the more powerful souls did not devour Furuichi's body. The Yokai, of many different types, acted as a spiritual connection for Furuichi and the natural lay lines to feed his new guest souls. Finally was the werewolf, and Forcas' only explanation was that it was there to ease any more future physical transformations Furuichi may suffer in the future.

With a small sigh, he went and located Kirin's soul. It was a deep scarlet patch, beating furiously at a fast pace as though it was a heart being overdosed with adrenaline, and Furuichi began accessing its memories. He gained the knowledge needed to wield the tonfas at a new advance level, but would still be imitative to Kirin's actual style. Slowly, to unlock more information, he began pulling on the soul, spreading it across his soul, and like last time the Vampire part reacted. Like on a crusade it screamed, its dark foggy black appearance raging like a tsunami, and the Water Spirit side washed its cool surface over the Vampire, trying to quell it. Frowning Furuichi stopped pulling it and allowed the piece of soul to return to its original state.

This time Furuichi tried something different, rather than pulling the piece of soul to fuse with his soul, he pulled his human soul over the demon soul. Fusing and overlapping the demon soul, so rather than having the demon part overtake his human part, his human part overtook the demon part. His finger twitched, but no new information on skill seemed to take hold on his person. No new knowledge took place, and Furuichi sighed in disappointment.

He opened his eyes, and promptly gasped in slight wonder at his eyesight. Specifically, how his eyesight now resembled the time when Furuichi activated **Shattered Mirror** and took Kirin in. These were the eyes that Kiring saw the world in. And Furuichi gulped as a near twisted form was reflected back at Furuichi from the mirror. He released his effect on his soul and allowed it to return to where it was.

He then focused on the Vampire part. He tried to unlock any knowledge he could gather from it, but the only new information he got from the soul was information on two families, the Camilla and Tepes families, and nothing else. No new martial arts style or anything of the like. But, there was a new sensation that spread throughout him.

 _Superiority._ It whispered at the back of his head. Like a bad tune, it lingered in his mind and twisted the crank over and over again. A strange feeling of pride and arrogance seemed to take over, and Furuichi let go immediately, reverting back to normal.

It seemed whoever the soul was, or if it was merely a stereotype of vampires, he or she must have been one hell of a prick.

He did the same thing he did moments ago and spread his soul over the Vampire. He was initially surprised by it trying to resist.

 _Blasphemy_ , the word repeated in his head. _Unclean_ , and other derogatory words were yelled before it managed to calm down enough to accept its fate. All at once Furuichi was suddenly hit with a bout of dizziness, and he placed his hands on the water basin as he steadied himself.

Finally he opened his eyes and blinked at his new image. His skin hadn't suddenly turned pale, heaven have mercy for that, but his eyes had changed color to a deep red. His upper canines had elongated a few millimetres, and some of his senses were enhanced. He blinked at his mirror image and was surprised to see that it was strangely foggy and translucent.

Furuichi recalled that Vampire's did not have reflections, and it seemed that since Furuichi wasn't fully a Vampire, his reflection was only partially gone. It was an interesting tidbit, one he wondered if he could pull on Oga. Thinking about it, he probably would react with nary a change in expression, and the Red Tails would probably have a teasing remark here and there.

He stopped, and listened to the shuffling of feet outside, and judging from the deepness of their voices, most of them were adults. The parents must have arrived then. Furuichi stepped out from the bathroom, mildly aware he had stayed in there for the entirety of first period, and noticed the parents now entering their children's classes.

"Go Asia! Go!" Blinking, Furuichi passed Xenovia, Issei, and Asia's classroom to see a wildly cheering pair of parents spurring on Asia. Strange, as from what he could tell they were asian while Asia was clearly foreign. Tracking his eyes he spotted Issei staring at them, a completely disbelieving and stunned expression on his face. Furuichi sweatdropped when he realised why, and zoomed in on the parent's name tags to see they were from the Hyoudou household.

Poor, poor Issei. Though to be frank if Furuichi had Asia as a little sister he'd probably not give a shit about anyone else too.

He spied Xenovia from the corner of his eye, twiddling with her PVC clay, and he noticed she was concentrating extra hard on it. It must be difficult for her, Furuichi thought, knowing that she was surrounded by so many loving parents but having no one do the same for her. She paused from her knitting and looked up at Furuichi in surprise.

She must have noticed his eyes on her. Furuichi didn't know what to do, so he nodded at her, trying to look cool in his cuffed up military uniform. She blinked, and it seemed she felt more comfortable with that rigid response than a friendly wave. She nodded rigidly back at him but stopped short at the second nod, and then pulled her hand up to wave. There was a smile on her face, a bright light in her eyes, and Furuichi realised she must have been happy to think that he had came by to see her.

There was a cough sound and he felt his face go rigid when the sight of the teacher, slightly annoyed with a knowing riseon his eyebrow, appeared in his vision. "Hehe, sorry," Furuichi lamented and sent one last beaming smile at Xenovia, which was slightly forced and unnatural but seemingly no less welcomed, before turning around and walking away.

He stuffed his hands in his pocket and walked along. With a start he could feel a high amount of demonic energy enter the school premises. He knew, that Lucifer-sama and Gremory-sama had entered the school building. His ability to detect demonic energy had risen up exponentially over the past few days, and he was beginning to be able to discern classes from the volume of demonic energy in the air. Finally another large volume of energy entered, and Furuichi could confirm that Leviathan-sama had entered the premises.

Furuichi reviewed the process of the day. Sona-Kaichou and Kirin would be escorting the Gremory family around the school, while the rest of the Student Council would be handling the day-to-day problems to ensure the school was fine.

He stepped down to the first floor and made his way to the first-year building. Some of them were out of their classes, art classes primarily, and Furuichi noticed Lamia in the crowd.

"You're so good Honoka!" He heard his mother say and watched as his family interacted with Lamia. The disguised pinkette blushed at his mother's praised and squirmed uncomfortably between both his parents.

"You could sell this for a lot of money. You might get a position at an art gallery or something like that with this," his father stated exuberantly. Lamia seemed to come to life at the praise, and Furuichi smiled slightly at the nice scene. It was good that Lamia was getting along well with his parents, he decided.

Lamia seemed to notice him and shot him a mild glare that he was there. The blush on her face showed that she was slightly embarrassed that he was there, and Furuichi couldn't help the wide smile and chuckle that came out when he saw that. Ah, you're letting your tsun-tsun side out Lamia! He thought amusedly.

As he walked he passed by one of the student council members, the vice-president if he remembered right, and they both exchanged curt nods. It was a strange feeling.

Back in Ishiyama and Saint Ishiyama, Furuichi never had a level of responsibility as this, nor was he so involved with those who did. He felt a class rep, or a member of the student council, watching the school and the people.

Somehow Furuichi managed to step out into the back of the school, where the trees and bushes of the natural ground bordered the school grounds. He frowned, just as a gush of familiar energy sparks nearby. Just a small drizzle, and Furuichi managed to attach a face to it.

"I see you're doing well?" A voice said. Furuichi turned to the person who spoke and nodded rigidly at Pierre. He tensed his muscles, open suspicion and wariness on his face as he flexed his wrist.

"What are you doing here?" In another time Furuichi would have jumped in the air, pointing and yelling, and maybe be seen as a fool. But not now, because Pierre didn't see him as a fool, and with Oga not there, or in fact no one being there, Furuichi only had the comfort of his own fear and confidence to protect him. "I wouldn't think that you would try and blow your chances before the meeting."

Pierre smiled lopsidedly, and shook his head. "Not now," he said, "I'm not here on roll. I did my job last night, and I'm not here because those stingy scruffs in the Khaos Brigade are flipping coin my way." He pulled off the tree and walked towards Furuichi. The lieutenant had spent a long time around unassuming strong guys to know better than to take him lightly.

"How did no one else figure out you were here?" Furuichi asked. Pierre smiled and pulled up his sleeve, revealing a myriad of tattoos on his person spiralling up and towards his body.

"I'm warded," he said matter-of-factly. He pulled down his sleeve but winced for a moment as he moved a little bit too fast. Furuichi smirked, slightly prideful at the damage he had done to the more experienced fighter the other night. "Of course I'm sure everyone else felt me the moment I let it go to reveal myself to you. Though I take it since I haven't been reduxed to paste, they're ignoring me."

"What do you want?"

Pierre let go of his smiled and crossed his arms. "Just to talk. The Khaos Brigade paid me coin to beat you around to get a grasp of hour abilities, instead I got tossed about. Thanks for that, I managed to wrangle a compensation fee." He flashed a grin at Furuichi, whose face had soured when he heard that. "Of course, even I have now piqued an interest with you. You're not normal for a Vessel, not even in the slightest bit. I take it is because you spend so long around the son of the Beelzebub, and that had exponentially increased your growth. Those Red Tails, punks, and the like have all garnered interesting abilities thanks in part to their relation with him."

Pierre's smile seemed to have grown when he realised that Furuichi's guarded face had bexome even more so now that he had pulled up information he should not have.

"More surprising things you learn by asking around?"

"Oh, brilliant!" Pierre exclaimed, "Smart boy. Here I thought we were a dying breed. Too many people mistake memorization as actual smartness these days."

Furuichi frowned but couldn't help but ask, "What do you mean by me not being normal for a Vessel."

Another smile. "Simply put, any other Vessel would have imploded long before they unlocked their Balance Breaker. You didn't and you unlocked Balance Breaker. Only very few have ever come close to doing that. You are an enigma. I can bet that even your Maous are scratching their heads and wondering what to do with you. You whonhad come into contact with a member of the Old Maou family, the new Maou, and having been drenched in a constant flow of demonic energy. I may have hung up my robes, but I am intrigued in your growth."

"Now this is a lot of information for merely asking around!" Furuichi mentioned guardedly.

"Undoubtedly," Pierre remarked dryly. "I'll have to make a run for it soon. If you want to know more about your own situation, then I suggest you ask Michael. If therr was anyone else out there who knows more about this, I'll be surprised. Or perhaps Azazel wouldn't mind giving you a little something."

With those parting words, Pierre disappeared behind the shadows of the trees. Furuichi couldn't quite guess how he had managed that but decided that didn't matter at all. Furuichi discarded everything Pierre told him and only focused on the here and now.

If there was ever a time where he could clarify his position, in this world and in the Underworld, Furuichi would see to it then and there. His head was aching trying to keep up as it is.

 **I should be studying for O levels but I don't really wanna. *Looks at mirror* Why are you like this.**

 **Anyway, about the Shattered Mirror. How do you like that little tidbit with the Vampire thing. Do you like it, do you think I could improve on it, should I change it up. I like hearing about it from everyone and I try my best to hear out you people who read my stories, either through reviews or PMs. Though if you just hate I'll run you over. I do try my best to incorporate ideas I like, and I'm not afraid to retcon my stuff if better stuff is forwarded.**

 **If anybody wants to drop down suggestions for the other pieces of Furuichi's soul. Like the Fae, the yokai, and the effects they do to him please do it in the reviews or pm. I'll be honest I'm unsure how exactly I should go about them, because my own imagination isn't all that great, so anybody who has great ideas on how Furuichi using these new separate soul pieces can change his body let me now.**

 **Also there might be confusion between the two methods Furuichi used in his soul. The first method, spreading the supernatura soul over his human one, is like rubbing peanut butter over bread. He spread it over his own soul, making it slightly dominant on his soul. Of course he can't encompass his entire soul and this, rather than change Furuichi physically, changes his memories and feelings because souls are like memory banks and he is basically overridding his memory banks. The second is like Furuichi superimposing the new soul into his soul, so his soul is srill the same but theres this extra thing now that takes shape on his body. Is that easy to understand?**

 **Now I'm trying my damndest to give Furuichi his own storyline that runs parallele to the DxD verse. You will see more of your favourite DxD characters, but I'm still grounding Furuichi role in this new supernatural world. There are srill people he has to meet, conflicts he has to go through, relarionships and all that. He will have an effect on the DxD universe, it won't stay canon in the long run. Some changes will be small, others will be big, and they'll mish-mosh to become their own thing. Do you like that, do you want me to focus on this or that more. Tell me in the reviews and I will try my best. You know maybe I might not be able to do it as good as you want me too but I'll never get to try unless you tell me.**

 **Also yes Oga and the good delinquents of Ishiyama will be in the story eventually. The Knigs Crest is still functional and I'm sure Oga would be wondering why there was a bunch of energy being zapped out. And to address a question I read yes I do read the DxD LN, but I've stopped recently due to schoolwork and exams. Like I've said I'm studying for O levels, you know stoichiomtry is a bitch and a half and that's excluding all the definitions and memorizations of bio and physics. My exams finish in the end of May so you'll probably have to wait out another month or so forna more consistent update schedule, I guess.**


	14. Chapter 14

Furuichi stepped away from his meeting place with Pierre, his mind a whir of activity. As he walked he redirected his steps and started straight towards Issei's classroom hoping to find some answers with something. As he walked he considered everything that was going through his head, smoothing out his uniform as he did. He stopped and stared down at his hands, his mind stopping at that motion. Since when had he ever smoothed out his uniform so excessively before. He'd been doing that many times over the period he had arrived on Kuoh, and he didn't stop. That wasn't like his usual behaviour.

He shook his head and stepped into the bathroom again and stared at the mirror. He thought about Honoka, and how she was used in some unknown plan to obstruct him. But then it came down to how and why, because it didn't make sense. What was the point in making Honoka scared of him, what did they hope to gain? With all the talk about how the Khaos Brigade were an amalgamation of different groups, for all Furuichi know this incident with Honoka was a completely unplanned idea made by an independent group in the Khaos Brigade. Pierre practically admitted to being as much. The Khaos Brigade was an organization that didn't know which hand they're using at any given time.

He threaded his fingers through his hair and sighed. Finally he sighed and relaxed his shoulders. He shook his head and stepped out of the bathroom, fixing his tie as he did. The bell rang and students were leaving their classrooms for lunch. With a sigh he turned around and started off towards his original destination.

He ignored the people nearby and stopped just outside Issei's classroom and stepped through. However, Issei wasn't there. Clicking his tongue Furuichi turned around and was about to search for him again when a hand on his wrist stopped him. He turned around, eyebrows furrowed, but eased it up when Xenovia's worried face was shown. "You're tensed," she accused, "What's wrong? Is there an attack coming?"

"No there isn't," Furuichi shook his head. "There isn't an attack, I'm just looking for Issei, is all." Her face scrunched up and Furuichi could tell she was reading him. For all the short time that Xenovia knew him, she could read his expressions surprising well, because when she let go of his hand, Furuichi knew that she didn't believe that was it.

"There's more to it," she said, her voice now serious. She wasn't talking with him in Xenovia's sweet innocent girl voice, she was talking to him in her Exorcist voice, the one who was trained to use Durandal and Excalibur Destruction to fight Devils and Fallen Angels. A soldier. Furuichi suddenly felt that he didn't like that look on her, not when she was making an effort to be a normal girl. She seemed to notice his expression and softened her expression. "Are you having problems watching over Buchou? Issei is with her right now. While you're duty is to protect Bucho, as her peerage, it is also our duty, so you can trust her with us at the very least."

"I probably can," Furuichi admitted, "But that doesn't mean I should." He sighed and looked from side to side. The students were mostly ignoring the two of them, but there was a bald guy and a glasses guy crying in the corner and shouting angry glances at him. Furuichi gave them an apologetic smile, but that only seemed to renew their tears.

"That's good of you," Xenovia said in apparent approval. She held his hand tight and gave him a concerned look. There was a look in her eye, a look of understanding. Furuichi frowned and suddenly realised why. She saw him for what he was right now; a soldier. Who better to judge him on that than her? "It's loyal, but why do I get the feeling that you're not happy with your orders. Or is it from whom your orders come from?"

"I don't usually take orders," Furuichi admitted, "I give them, or, I give suggestions to orders. They don't usually mean anything in the end."

"Why do you say that?" Xenovia asked, "You're a capable soldier, and you've shown it to me that you're able to understand politics and strategy to a degree."

Furuichi smiled ruefully and nodded his head. "I wasn't always like that, I usually just ran away and hide. Trying my best to be strong."

"We all start from somewhere," Xenovia comforted him. Furuichi chuckled.

"I started from behind the strongest person I know," Furuichi admitted. "He doesn't give orders, but he doesn't need to. I'm there, when he needs me and when he doesn't."

"Loyal," Xenovia whispered. He nodded.

"Yeah, though sometimes I don't show it as well as I should," Furuichi said. "I need to find Issei, where he goes Gremory-san is bound to follow, and I have questions that need answers."

"Alright," Xenovia affirmed, "Issei took off down the halls with Asia after he made a PVC clay model of Buchou." Furuichi nodded his head and turned to leave but then turn back and stared at her in confusion.

"I-I'm sorry? What? He did what?" He asked with a troubled voice. Xenovia blinked up at him with an innocent expression, her head tilting to one side and her heads raised up her chest. She looked adorably cute, bless that girl, and she seemed utterly obvious to the trouble.

"He made a PVC clay model of her. It's very impressive, I had saw it too. He had his eyes closed too when he was making it. It's amazing how Issei took the time to memorize Buchou's body to such a level, it shows the dutifulness example of a good Pawn." Furuichi's felt his mind get fried. Wait? That dirty _rascal_. While Furuichi was now getting extreme luck in women with Xenovia having taken an interest in him, that kid had just started and he already went _that_ far. Furuichi looked at Xenovia, who was looking at him in confusion, and quickly shook his head. He wasn't like that. He'll let Xenovia pick the pace, yea.

He looked down at her and had an idea pop up. "Are you busy right now?" He asked.

She blinked and shook her head. "No, I was just going to get lunch, ah, but I forgot my bento and Kiryuu-san offered to share with me." Furuichi smiled and gave her his arm.

"Well, if my guess is right, Issei probably headed to the vending machine and I have some cash to spend. Would you like me to escort you to the vending machine?" Furuichi asked her Xenovia looked at him in confusion.

"I don't really think the school is such a threatening place that I require an-" before she could finish that thought a glasses wearing girl grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her away from Furuichi. The silver-haired teen blinked in surprise and watched as she animatedly began to say things to Xenovia.

"Just die~" Furuichi sweatdropped as the two previously crying teenagers were now glaring daggers at him, with one even drawing a chibi version of Furuichi to lop off his head using scissors. Xenovia quickly returned, this time being pushed back into place by the same girl who was making a 'get on with it' gesture with her hands.

"Uh-um," Xenovia muttered, "I would very much like to be escorted by your to the vending machine, so that when we get there you can carry me into a corner and passionately kiss me and impregnate me." She was blushing as she said this and Furuichi sweatdropped. He looked behind Xenovia to see the glasses girl flush and face palm. "Ah wait, that's what's supposed to happen but I'm not suppose to say it."

"It's okay Xenovia," Furuichi said patiently, though he had to keep his nose from bleeding. _Well if that's the pace she wants to go._ His mind was telling him. "Come on, let's go to the vending machine." She nodded her head, suddenly shyly, and she looked all the world less like the soldier from before and an emotionally vulnerable schoolgirl with her first boyfriend, unsure and afraid. There was something immensely cute about this, which was threatening to explode out of this uniform. "Come on."

They walked down, Xenovia hugging his hand like before when they walked home, but this time it was accompanied with some stares. She herself seemed to be a completely different person from before, probably because of that girl's lewd words and possibly because she was realising how _normal_ it is that she was doing without any experience on what normal is.

They finally arrived at the vending machine, and Furuichi was none too surprised to find that the Occult Research club had gathered to watch a...cosplay photoshoot. Ishiyama may have been a school for uneducated unevolved primates but this school takes the cake for a whole different subject of weird. "What on Earth."

"She's very limber," Xenovia said.

"Yes she is, no wait, hold you see a girl wearing a cosplay dress in a school, posing with her panties being seen to a bunch of random photographers and you comment on her _limberness_ ," Furuichi deadpanned.

"Well yes, The Church would always teach the exorcists that being fast and nimble is a great asset. We go through basic gymnastics and I myself am actually very flexible." Furuichi could feel his face turn red and steam blow out of his ears at hearing that. Lewd thoughts began to fill his mind and he could feel his uniform tighten around his body to control the hormones.

"Is that so?" He muttered casually.

"Why do you think our uniforms are like that?" She asked in confusion. He was about to die. Furuichi was about to die a glorious death before even experiencing the joys of the woman beside him. Xenovia snapped her fingers in front of his face and Furuichi blinked at that.

"Ah sorry," Furuichi muttered and they stepped towards the Gremory group.

"Ah, L-Lieutenant-san!" Issei muttered nervously when Furuichi stepped close. He had a curious expression on his face when he realised that Xenovia was holding his arm, and he shot a mild jealous glare at him. _Is this guy incredibly dense to the girls who_ are _chasing him?_ Furuichi wondered. Dear God, he found a non-Oga-like Oga.

"Lieutenant-san," Gremory greeted with a small head bow. But there was a bead of sweat on her cheek as she said this and Furuichi glance at the cosplay lady. She seemed to guess Furuichi;s blank stare as something else and suddenly stated, "Yes, indeed, that is Maou-sama Leviathan."

His face became gobsmacked. What in all hells blazes is wrong with Hell. You've got a Beelzebub that sent a message using his crotch, battle horny Devils who run the most deadliest military around, and fucking Princes that can destroy an entire world for throwing a tantrum. _What the Fuck._ How is the Earth still standing.

"Kiba-kun," Xenovia greeted her fellow Knight.

"Xenovia-san," Kiba greeted her. Right then Saji arrived and dispersed the crowd. He turned to the cosplay girl, and there was a troubled expression on his face. Furuichi, thinking it his job, stepped forward in between Saji and the apparent Maou. Saji looked up at him in surprise but allowed Furuichi to step in without a word of complaint.

"Leviathan-sama," Furuichi greeted. The cosplay girl turned to him with a peace sign and a bright child-like smile.

"That's me! Call me Levi-tan!" She greeted him. His uniform practically forced him to salute her, and he did. He kept his face impressively poker to maintain the facade and he heard Gremory-san compliment him silently on his sobriety. "Ara! Are you that Pillar boy that Dr Forcas mentioned?"

Furuichi frowned and blinked before hesitatingly nodded. "I'm Furuichi Takayuki, Leviathan-sama. I must ask, Leviathan-sama, why is it that you are all by yourself here and without my associate's protection."

"Eh, ah I gave him the slip so that I could find Sona-tan," she dismissively.

"S-Sona-tan. You mean Kaicho-" Speak of the devil, Sona-Kaichou appeared and reprimanded Saji for not handling the mess when she froze at the sight of Leviathan-sama. Furuichi felt his mind go blank when Leviathan-sama leapt forward and hugged Sona around the neck, and he carefully retreated backwards towards Xenovia. The former Exorcist was looking at it with a very curious expression.

"Is this how girls are supposed to act when they see each other," Xenovia asked. Seeing as how Leviathan-sama was hugged Sona-Kaichou very tightly and was rubbing their breasts together in a 'yuri' way Furuichi replied with a straight answer.

"No, and you have to promise me you'll never do that." Furuichi said in deadpan. The Gremory patriarch and the current Lucifer then appeared, exchanging a few words before Sona-Kaichou ran away in embarrassment. Ah, Sona-Kaichou, if it was him in that position he'd have become a NEET already.

Xenovia tugged at his sleeve the moment that Issei's parents arrived to meet the Gremory patriarch. "Your partner is missing," she told him. He blinked, and looked to see that indeed Kirin was not shadowing the Maou. Frowning he nodded to her and did something in the moment. He reached down and kissed her cheek, ignoring how her face became scarlet red and how his cheeks were now dashed with pink, Furuichi rose to his full height and walked towards Lucifer, careful to not interject between his conversation with his sister, Rias Gremory-san.

"Maou-sama," Furuichi greeted. The Lucifer turned to him, and he had a calm and intimidating aura about him. For some reason, Furuichi felt that the man was every bit like the old croon that was Alaindelon, but there was a very real sense of power underneath, A scary sense of power. "I am Lieutenant Furuichi Takayuki." He saluted.

Sirzechs Lucifer raised an eyebrow and nodded to him before looking at his sister. "Ria-tan, can you meet me later with Akeno-san at a later time. It's about your bishop." Gremory-san was still blushing but this time she opened wide surprised eyes before nodding seriously. She turned to head back to class with Issei, Asia, and Akeno. Lucifer gave Furuichi a look and he understood it immediately.

"Xenovia, I think it's best that you leave for class to. Sorry, we'll have lunch together later," Furuichi told her. Xenovia looked in between Furuichi and Lucifer, and the soldier mask was back on. She nodded her head dutifully.

"Yes, Takayuki-kun," she said with a small smile. Furuichi blushed at his name again, but he was happy to see that she wasn't fully a soldier anymore. He watched her go away, and Furuichi sighed.

"First girlfriend I see?" Sirzechs commented. "First experience in love?" He asked. Furuichi jumped and shuffled nervously.

"I wouldn't say we're dating, she's just trying to find herself is all." Furuichi admitted nervously. His mind drifted to Lamia and he cleared his throat. "I think there would be girls willing to punch me if things went that way too fast as well."

Sirzechs chuckled. "Yes, that is the case nowadays with the young people, isn't it." He laughed for a few more seconds but sobered up very quickly as he stared at Furuichi with serious eyes. "Now, I'm guessing you have questions for me?"

"What exactly do we know about Khaos Brigade, and about the Old Maou Faction?" Furuichi asked bluntly, though he was sweating as he said this, the uniform managed to keep him straight and look composed and 'cool' in front of Sirzechs, and by his smile it seemed to work.

"You're very direct. I find Issei-kun's obvious ignorance refreshing, but I find you equally interesting for another matter me, how is my friends son?" Furuichi frowned before he connected the dots.

"Beelze is doing just fine," Furuichi told him, "Iris as well is surprisingly fine given her previous...uh, removal by the Beelzebub's side." Sirzechs laughed, it was a polite kind of laugh.

"I always told Ajuka to take care of his wife or things like this happened, he even made that huge painting for her and everything when we were younger," Sirzechs commented. The young looking Lucifer paused and patted Furuichi's shoulders, who tensed as he more felt the demonic power leaking through the man than anything else. A surprised expression filled the Lucifer's face before he began to laugh merrily. "I'm very happy to see that my side is gaining many interesting members."

Furuichi tilted his head with a bead of sweat traveling down his chin. "What do you mean by that."

Lucifer stepped back and gave Furuichi a relaxed smile. "Furuichi-kun, my imouto's peerage, do you find anything interesting about them." Furuichi frowned and deepened his look. The Lucifer clicked his finger and smiled, mistaking the look for some morbid realization. "They all have Sacred Gears, and in the presence of Hyoudou Issei-kun, they are growing at an exponential rate. Issei himself is a questionable existence, the weakest dragon, but with potential never before seen. Kiba-kun has unlocked a Holy-demonic balance breakers, there is an Exorcist capable of using Durandal on our side and a Holy Maiden with Twilight Healing. Our side has grown exponentially." Lucifer gave Furuichi another one of his smiles before adding, "Michael, the Archangel, is even planning on giving Issei the Ascalon of Saint George."

Furuichi widened his eyes. He knew from Kirin's memories what exactly that meant. That was a momentous gift and it reaffirmed what Furuichi understood of the situation. It was like the power plays in Ishiyama before Oga took over as the head, little gifts and tributes to instill a more cooperative relationship before an alliance. Furuichi knew specifically how precarious the Christian Belief was currently. "This meeting is looking less and less like a peace conference, and more like an alliance."

"Indeed," Lucifer agreed. "It certainly looks like that. Currently the Khaos Brigade stands directly against the conference, as opposed to the other members of the Khaos Brigade that we are aware of. Sadly that is all we know. The Old Maou faction is made up with the families of the Old Maous and they are gaining membership as the conference draws near. However, if it comes down to it, I have full faith that our side would prevail."

"Because of the aforementioned 'interesting' new additions?" Furuichi asked. The Lucifer nodded.

"And you, of course." Furuichi tilted his head and asked his next question.

"Do you know about my apparent Vessel capabilities," Furuichi asked.

"I know no more of that than you do. Your growth is exponential by itself, which I can attribute to your presence with Issei-kun, however my recent meetings with Behemoth revealed to me that you've been an associate to Oga Tatsumi since your childhood. Like the Dragon, I believe you're close proximity to Oga-kun is also the reason to your growth," Lucifer told him.

"You think my...extraordinary abilities was in part due to my presence with Oga?" He asked.

Lucifer smiled and shook his head, "No, I think that you've always had this ability, it's just the presence you've spent around them cultivated it into its maturity." That just left more questions in Furuichi's head, but he understood that there was no more he was going to get out of the situation. Finally he shook his head and saluted the Lucifer again. The man smiled and turned away. "I have to meet with my Imouto soon to discuss a personal matter, take care Lieutenant-san, you yourself is a great boon to Underworld."

Furuichi watched the Lucifer walked away and sighed. He wandered away, heading towards the school gate as he walked. The break was now over for the upperclassmen and the underclassmen were now trickling into the cafeteria. Furuichi stuffed his hands into his pockets and walked away, pondering the new information in his mind.

It was honestly net zero in new information. It was everything that he already knew, and nothing more. He bit his bottom lip and tried to counter the thought with anything else. He wondered what Oga was doing, and he figured that his friend was doing alright by himself. Finally he wondered about Pierre and his apparent knowledge of Ishiyama. He grew slightly worried and he pulled out his phone to call Oga.

Nobody answered. It didn't surprise him, Oga would rarely answer his phone for anything unless it was his sister. He tried again and called Kunieda, who was now in her third year with Nene, and waited. "Hello?" Kunieda's voice came through.

"Kunieda?" Furuichi muttered in his usual Creepichi way.

"Furuichi? Wait, how did you get this number?" She asked.

"Nevermind that," Furuichi asserted himself, "Has anything happened at Ishiyama while I was away?"

"If anything weird was happening?" Kunieda muttered. "Um, Kanzaki visited for a while and there was a fight between Oga and his gang member when Oga called one of them ugly." Furuichi sweatdropped. "I don't think...oh, there was a bunch of St Ishiyama students that arrived and scouted out the place for a reason,"

Furuichi frowned. "St Ishiyama students?" He shifted in agitation as the implications hit him and finally he asked, "Were they normal, did they do anything weird?"

"Were they normal? I guess they were. Some of the students tried to intimidate them but they shrugged it off without any problems," Kunieda told him. :What is it Furuichi? And where have you been? Oga said you went to a Hentai Convention but I don't think that's like you." Furuichi felt a little bit happy that Kunieda thought so highly of his character and chuckled.

"Nothing, just some business is all," he muttered.

"Oga seems worried about it too," Kunieda added. Furuichi frowned and stared at the ground.

"Oga? No way? That guy can walk away just fine from a nuclear missile. You're over reacting," Furuichi told her. "Listen, I have to go for a while now, I'll be back in Ishiyama real soon, Kunieda." He ended the call and slipped the phone back into his pocket. He sighed, his mind filled complicated thoughts. He didn't come out here to Kuoh Academy expecting to be caught up in the middle of politics and a war, he had went through that enough times in Ishiyama. He nearly died once. But the war he was part of right now seemed even worse than before.

There was a bunch at his hip and he yelped. He looked down at the person who sent it and wasn't surprised to find Lamia staring up at him. What was surprising was that she had a wary expression on her face as she stared at him. "Over thinking things isn't like you," she declared.

He blinked and forced out a chuckle. "Yeah, you're right," he said. "I just have things in my head is all." Lamia scrunched up her face at him and he quickly asked, "How were my parents? Were they overbearing?"

She blushed and turned away with her arms crossed. "N-no, they were perfectly fine. They weren't overbearing at all, they were...pleasant. Yeah, they were very pleasant." Furuichi laughed again.

"That's good." But still Lamia had a hard look on her face as she looked up at Furuichi and then finally she shook her head.

"You've been acting different lately," she accused.

Furuichi sighed and finally acquiesced to her demands. "I've been treated differently, I have whole new responsibilities. It's like...a whole different life. My life in Ishiyama, and my life in Kuoh. They're different. Even the Pillars treat me differently now." He looked at the sky, thinking about it, reflecting on the changes. Was there ever a time that Furuichi would actively seek out a fight against someone, like that one time when he attacked that Exorcist, or when he attacked the Cerberus and Kokabiel. He acted that way once, when he first found the tissues, and it was a much different affair when he started using the tissues later on.

He felt Lamia grab onto his wrist and he looked down to see her blushing. "I-I mean I don't treat you any differently Baka-ichi," she said while looking at the ground. "So if you need anyone to talk to, then you can come to me. D-don't get the wrong idea! It's strictly a Doctor-Patient thing, and I'm bound by confidentiality laws not to talk to anyone about your private affairs, so it's a win-win right? I mean for you that is!" Furuichi blinked down at her in surprise and laughed. He patted her on the head, ignoring how she blushed and kicked him in the shin for that.

"Break's almost over," Furuichi told her, "You should head back to class now." Lamia ducked her head and quickly ran off to do just that before Furuichi even finished his sentence. Furuichi watched her go and then turn to see that Kirin was waiting behind him with his arms crossed.

"Tomorrow is the day of the meeting," Kirin told him. Furuichi nodded his head and turned to the sky. "With Elim incapable of handling magic assistance and air support, we'll have to switch tactics."

"I'll go to the roof," Furuichi muttered.

"And I'll go by ground."

 **I"M BACK! Now, I really don't have an excuse besides that I kind of run afoul with the Beelzebub comedy after a while when I started writing for A Tomorrow For Us. I sorta got it back in the first few chapters of Let Me Screw Around in the Clone Wars, but it dropped for a more earthly joke side. It's sorta why I was bouncing back and forth writing for this fic. Now, I know a lot of people might not like it how this was mostly filler after making you wait for months. But new update won't take another month, at least I hope so, and the next chapter is when things start to differ and everything starts to form around both the Beelzebub universe and the DxD universe. This mostly is to assert some criticism people have sent me.**

 **The Furuichi in this story acts differently; some people have told me that and I have since absorbed that criticism into this. Furuichi hasn't just experienced a physical change, he has experienced an emotional change since arriving to Kuoh Academy that was gradual as it went along. He gets more serious at times, play the role of strategist more often, and is generally more intellectual. This can be that I was slightly losing in touch with the comedy but like any good writer I turned it around as a character conflict. In all seriousness, it's very true. As somebody pointed out when Furuichi was back at the Castle with Iris and the rest after the incident with Kokabiel, he suddenly became the more lively Furuichi, but when he came back to Kuoh, while he was still perverted and lively, he was a lot more composed and battle ready. So yea, this completely accidental thing is now a very possible driving point for Furuichi character development.**

 **Also on the subject of the two current love interests. I never really liked how Xenovia was practically, forgotten during the first chapters of the LN. She did appear, but her appearance and the gravity of her appearances were so...** _ **small**_ **,** _ **insignificant**_ **,** _ **and seemingly to reinforce the idea that she was a socially awkward power-focused knight**_ **. It was only later that her character got more...eh respect for what she was. It was seemingly forgotten that while Xenovia is socially awkward, she was practically a soldier fighting a war. To that end, while there are many charming movements of Xenovia being as awkward as she is in social environments. There are times when she can properly connect with Furuichi better than Issei in that the both of them were in fact soldiers. Furuichi was much even before he came to Kuoh. He never officially fought in any capacity before the tissues, but he was beside Oga for the majority of his life threatening pursuits, declared war on En even in the face of overwhelming odds to safeguard Oga's life, and then when he had the tissues nearly died fighting the Fallen Angels. The two of them are practically alike in a weird opposite way in the sense that they are very awkward at times in social situations, both for opposite reasons, became soldiers or at least combatants in a conflict, while Xenovia probably face much more, um, darker but Furuichi faced life and death situations regularly besides Oga. So I was building that up between them, as while Xenovia is having more trouble facing the more normal side of her life, Furuichi may have trouble facing the more soldier-like part of his new life.**

 **On Lamia. I've been neglecting her, mostly because, well, again she's a loli and Furuichi doesn't seem to show any interest in that way. However, I've recently reread the end of Beelzebub and I missed out how her hair grew longer and her figure changed. She has developed into more of a woman, and since this is when Furuichi is a second year, I can probably get away with kickstarting her growth now and build that relationship up from there. While Xenovia's relationship with Furuichi is more handsy and, uh, ecchi, Lamia's relationship with him will be more earthly and emotional. As you can see, that type of relationship is a lot harder to develop, so this is filler to build that up. She is after all the only part of his old life that has actually seen his new transformation and doesn't really treat him any differently, at least I hope I didn't portray her any differently. There is a stronger emotional attachment there that I was trying to build up.**

 **On that note, as you guys can tell, I struggle at times to write the comedy sections now that my writing style has grown, serious over the months. So I'm asking if you guys are alright at a little bit less comedy (not outright no comedy but less) because I reread my past chapters, and besides the usual headbanging and reading your own works, I felt a lot of the later jokes for the later chapters were very** _ **forced**_ **. So tell me what you think about that.**

 **I'll have the next chapter of FDA up soon now that we're moving on from the filler chapters that was the intermediary scene between the Kokabiel conflict and the Peace Conference, which I kind of regret doing as I probably could have just smashed this part in the previous two chapters all together to save up chapter space.**

 **Anyway, WDO345 Out!**


	15. Chapter 15

There was an uneasy feeling inside Furuichi as he stared at the meeting from across the courtyard. He could see with perfect clarity Lucifer, Azazel, and Michael sitting down around a table and discussing topics that he could only vaguely grasp at. Another part of Furuichi, however, was uneasy because of the simple understanding that if he could see them just fine from this far away, then naturally, anybody else could as well. It also didn't help that Elim had told him that no matter how good a barrier was, there was always a way to circumvent it.

The greatest worry they had for the meeting was that someone would arrive and try to disrupt the meeting. But then, if that were there case, how would they do it? There were a numerable amount of ways that an assassin or saboteur could send the conference into a screeching halt. It pained Furuichi to even begin to think that all they had as readily available defense were two Pillars and a group of high school students. Ironic considering that even though Furuichi was a Pillar, he was also a high school student. Even more so if you looked at his background.

Furuichi couldn't help grabbing his head and sinking down to his knees with a defeated sigh. "Tiring. This is so tiring," he said to himself. A ping sound was heard in Furuichi's ear and Kirin's voice came through, crystal clear and devoid of any sounds of wildlife as would be expected in a forest.

"There are worse reasons to be so stressed," Kirin admitted as he watched the trees. Furuichi sighed loudly and rose to his full height. It was a little bit awkward with the addition of the Pillar's Coat of Arms, as Kirin had gifted it to him now that he had gained the Serpent's Guard pin.

"I still feel as though more security measures could have been put into place," Furuichi muttered as he stared at the meeting for a while longer.

"The entire First and Second Legion of Black is outside guarding the barrier. The Fallen Angels has also called upon their Third Scripture and the Fallen Angels have brought in their Elites. We've taken all possible precautions, Lieutenant," Kirin told him, stressing his rank. Furuichi felt beads of sweat travel down his cheek as he was reminded of his rank again.

"I understand that, but shouldn't we take as much precaution as possible? This is the thinnest line for war I have ever seen," Furuichi muttered. "Also, why were you not with Lucifer-sama in the day?"

"I had business to attend to," Kirin said but there was some hesitation in his voice. The line was dead for a moment, and Furuichi turned his eyes away and scanned the courtyard. "Actually...I had confirmed with Lucifer-sama that he was to meet with his younger sister, and went to greet one of our informants in the city."

"Informants? Another Pillar?" Furuichi asked.

"No," Kirin said, "He is a human. Us devils sometimes employ humans in secret, as in, they think we are humans as well rather than Devils. Our informant told me of some recent human activity in the city that is troubling me."

"How so?" Furuichi asked, suddenly wary of the recent information.

"There are matters that would need to be discussed with you at a later date," Kirin confirmed. "But now is not the time. It seems the meeting has taken an interesting turn." Furuichi turned and realised that the leaders were now discussing things with Issei. "It seems the Red Dragon Emperor is very bold, considering his current power level."

"You're tapped into the meeting?" Furuichi asked.

"Yes, for safety reasons. The leaders all submitted to it." The red barrier's light shined down on Furuichi and he stared at it for a moment, expecting it to rip open and allow an army of undead creatures to spew forth. "Have you heard of the crossdressing NEET vampire in the old school building?"

Furuichi sweatdropped. "Gremory-san has notified me of him...and that was a really blunt way of addressing him Kirin."

"Did it trouble you?" He could hear Kirin's smirk.

Furuichi coughed into his hand. "What about the vampire? You want me to check up on him? The way Gremory-san described him, I don't think he'd be too much a problem." Kirin was silent on the other line and Furuichi could see that Issei was getting heated talking with both Michael and Azazel. "What is it?"

"Nothing, just some teenage hot-headedness," Kirin said. Furuichi nodded his head and turned back to the barrier. "Lieutenant, you told me that you could gain the ability of my eyesight, correct?" Furuichi confirmed with him that it was indeed true. "With your aerial view, it'd be best if you switched to that vision. You'll be able to see any intruders better. I warn you though, don't look at the Faction Leaders directly for too long."

Frowning for a moment, Furuichi did as was instructed and soon the entire ground was awash with different colours as he scanned the ground. There was a faint dark tinge of scarlet around the area, no doubt the effect of the barrier, and the ground was oozing some sort of green energy. _Natural leylines_ , Elim's strict voice emerged from the back of his head.

Out of curiosity Furuichi darted a glance at the meeting. Immediately his entire being was left with an entire feeling of dread, his knees felt shaky, and his breath hitched. If Furuichi's soul was something sickly and terrible to look at, then the souls of the creatures he could see now were indomitable pillars, oozing energy and power enough to rival the sun. Lucifer-sama's soul was like a torrent of red hot flames, wisping into the air sucking up any oxygen it could find, while Michael and Azazel were clear shining pillars that seemed void of any real being, making them otherworldly. While Michael's aura was warm and comforting, Azazel's was chaotic and indulgent. Furuichi suddenly felt like an insect to stare at such a massive power difference.

He'd always known that he was weaker than everyone around him, but to see it as plain as day in front of him, it was suddenly all the more real. The gravity of it was bone-crushing. He suddenly had the thought 'what was the point of living, if existences like these could snuff it out so readily?' before he could reign in his mind.

He turned away and stared at the barrier again for a time. But then, "W-what?" He muttered, staring at the old-school building. There were seven white signatures burning bright with some sickly taint traveling around in the building. He could see them just out of his sight passing the windows. "K-Kirin, we have intruders in the old school building!"

There was no reply from the Pillar and Furuichi felt his face twist into sudden worry and alertness. There was a sudden lurch in his soul, the Vampire part of it, and Furuichi then twirled around and punched a robed man in the gut. He pulled back, the punch having no effect, and stared at the older man in shock. "You little shit!" He cursed and the cowl of his robe glowed a bright gold.

A searing hot lance of energy striked against Furuichi's shoulder and he stumbled backwards in pain. "I was suppose to make this quick and leave before time was frozen," the magician snarled as magical runes started forming around him. "But I'll get you for that!" Furuichi wasn't allowed to call on any Pillars as it was with the tissues, due to its random selection, and he wasn't allowed to call on anyone higher than General. But he didn't think it necessary to waste it on a peon like this guy.

Instead he flipped two tonfas into his grasp, and rather than pulling on Kirin's soul to better use the techniques, Furuichi pushed forward and attacked the man with his own strength. As he suspected, the magician didn't have the physical capabilities of Pierre, and instead of meeting Furuichi's attacks with his own, the man instead suffered a broken nose and arm for his troubles.

The magician cried out and fell to the ground, "No, you fool. I'm out of time!" He yelled. Furuichi frowned as he tried to parse out the meaning when his body was suddenly hit with warning sirens from nearly all parts of his soul. The youkai screamed the loudest, and for a moment, Furuichi lost control of his soul and the youkai creature surged to life and completely enveloped his a large free portion of his soul.

It was a nanosecond, no, a fraction of a nanosecond, but at the same moment Furuichi felt his muscles lock frozen, he felt a massive surge of energy enter his body. He was still using Kirin's ability, so he could see green suddenly envelop his arms. Then a massive burst of outward energy was used, breaking the hold of the effect as Furuichi regained his footing. It was without thinking that Furuichi surged forward faster than the eye could blink, and what was meant to a disabling move had instead ripped the magician's frozen body in half. His boots slipped unsteadily against the man's blood, and while Furuichi should have felt disgust at what he had done, the high he had received from the sudden influx of power was near deafening to his senses.

He felt his fists clench up and he suddenly felt a large dispersal of energy. He turned upwards to find Magicians flowing out of portals towards the main school building. In his mind's eye he could hear a loud _dooooo_ sound echo down the corridors of his vast consciousness. His soul stirred, stilled, and before he could blink the yokai creatures inside him expanded until they stretched across one side of his soul. But alongside them the vampire side did the same, spreading out opposite to its counterpart but never touching each other.

|Compatibility 70%|

|Efficiency 32%|

|Mild Soul Convergence|

Searing hot pain lanced through Furuichi. Like how he had felt when he merged with Kirin, he felt his muscles change and his body morph. This time the vampire did not object to him, this time there was no needless complications. The vampire and the youkai burned themselves brightly against his human soul. This was different to the transformation he experienced with Kirin. Rather than having his soul get 'stitched' together with the others, they were instead burned, or rather, glossed over. It was, different. Less painful, less powerful, less compatibility. But still he knew without a doubt he was stronger now.

His muscles felt leaner and more condensed, his colored eyesight had disappeared and instead he was given the keen sight of a vampire. To add to this, he could feel senjutsu wrapping itself around him like a cloak. It was intoxicating.

"Enemy behind us!" The magicians yelled when they saw Furuichi. They fired golden beams of light at him, but Furuichi manages to dodge them, using acrobatics he had learned from Kirin, he flipped over and somersaulted away. When he landed on his feet, he rolled to the side and slid to a stop just as five golden beams passed him.

His senses were sharp, and his speed was so great, it seemed time had slowed down. Furuichi turned and he felt his muscles flex beneath his uniform. Vampires would naturally use high level magic to compliment their latent abilities, but Furuichi was given the body of a vampire and not its mine. Beyond the skills he acquired from his short week of training with Kirin, Furuichi could only rely on his own skill, at least unless the situation warranted him called on a Pillar General.

With the senjutsu empowering him Furuichi naturally had an increase in attack power, but something like that could not be used recklessly. If he attacked with the mind of a brute then Furuichi was going to be overwhelmed by superior numbers. However, Furuichi did still have the Vampire's body. Regardless of his lack of knowledge in magic, he possessed a working understanding of his vampire abilities it was not extensive and that working knowledge was more an instinctive hunch.

It was like a baby gripping his hand. A baby, whose hands are too small and too weak to properly do anything with his hands, naturally knows how to move his fingers, grip an object, and attempt to lift it. The understanding Furuichi had of his abilities was like that. But it was rudimentary, the most basic of the basics. In simpler words, he only knew baby steps. But that was enough, and that was all that mattered.

He jumped high into the air, soaring straight into a flock of magicians. Most of the magicians were of high level, and Furuichi could see with his senjutsu that they had applied resistance charms to keep them safe.

Then his Charm ability, the strength of a pure vampire's gaze to affect the minds of weaker beings, would be useless. So Furuichi surged senjutsu into his arms and spun in the air like a spinning wheel of death. Using Senjutsu Furuichi strengthened his muscles and body, giving himself an advantage over the magicians who were average humans. Adding to that his slightly diminished vampiric body, then his strength was close in between a low-class and middle-class devil.

Furuichi focused the ki he obtained through senjutsu into his hands and turned his eye towards the magicians. He somersaulted in the air and pumped his fist at a close group of magicians and a blast of ki sent them tumbling backwards, with the closest ones having been killed by the explosion. Furuichi grabbed onto the robe of a magician and crushed one of his wrists. In a shout of pain, the magician fell to the ground where the magician hit the ground with a loud thud.

Furuichi then steadied himself and stared at the magicians in the air, and if Furuichi had been a little more in control, he'd be terrified of the smile that appeared on his face.

* * *

Senjutsu, or ki, is the natural life force of the world. It is spirit energy. Taking in spirit energy was like taking in the spirit of the world. It is rich and gives you powers and advantages. It's weaker than most powers, but it was plentiful, for where there was life there was the ability for senjutsu. But spirit energy was not something for amateurs to trifle with. By taking in that energy, one would also take in the world's malice and anger. They would take in all the feelings of the world, all the hatred that drowned in the air.

That was what Furuichi was experiencing. Only due to his Sacred Gear had he not fully succumbed to the madness and hatred, because his soul was eldritch, the world's hatred could not affect him in the way it should. It was an error in the system. One which the Sacred Gear that Furuichi possessed, Vessel, exploited to give him an advantage in what should be a one-sided battle.

However, while Furuichi did not gain information from bringing the vampire's soul over his own, he gained its abilities and insight. However, that was only by a small margin. Now it was stretched so far that Furuichi had basic understanding of natural abilities. As such, some of the inborn pride and arrogance of a vampire now existed inside of Furuichi, and with this the effect was simple -

* * *

"Die! All you disgusting magicians who dare attack _me_ of all people. You don't even half a tenth of the power Oga or Takamiya has. Worthless trash! Insignificant and unruly!" Furuichi said calmly and his natural ocular vampiric abilities combined with his intense bloodlust sent the magicians reeling back in fright and horror at the strong impulse.

"Monster!" A magician yelled.

"You idiot!" A more experienced magician yelled behind them. "Of course he's a monster! He a _fucking_ Devil. Stop being stupid shits and form up for an attack!" Furuichi turned his head to the magician and realised he was wearing a more urban robe like design. It was wound tightly around his muscled body and his skin was tanned. The cowl of his robe was pulled back to reveal a strong jaw and sharp eyes.

"Yes, Neil-san!" The magicians nearest to him exclaimed.

"Fools!" Furuichi yelled. Then, to the surprise of the magicians, Furuichi slapped himself in the face. "Ah! That was to cheesy. That was too stereotypical!" He said while flapping his hands in front of him. Then he turned to point an accusing finger at one of the magicians. "And why did you say his name out loud. I could have known who he was and known his abilities, and giving me that information could have helped me prepare a counterattack! Are you all halfwit idiots?! Am I fighting worse than stupid little insects, but stupid little insects who are also walking around without a brain. Idiots!"

* * *

Of course, Furuichi was still Furuichi.

* * *

"Enough of this! Kill him!" Furuichi jumped back and away from two bright beams of light. He then landed with the grace of a dignified noble and looked at the magicians with a menacing stare.

He pumped his arm again, and a blast of ki sent a group of magicians spiralling out of control in the air.

Three beams of light slammed into his shoulder and it sent him spinning on the spot. A knife embedded himself on his thigh, and before he managed to pull it out, the knife froze over and impaired his thigh alongside it. "Kuh! You worthless-" he slapped himself before he said anything else cliche.

Another trio of beams slammed into his torso, and he landed painfully onto the ground without anyway to defend himself. He thudded against the wall and his eyes flashed angrily. For a moment he didn't know what to do, his chest hurt but the senjutsu strengthening had kept him from dying. His mouth opened wide into a snarl and he was making a silent scream. Pride dictated to him that he didn't make a single noise to the satisfaction of his enemies.

The magician Neil pointed at Furuichi from where he stayed. "Attack!" He yelled but before he could say anything more, one of the magicians behind him cried out in pain as Xenovia cut him in half with her blade, Durandal. Another magician pulled up a three layered magic barrier around him, but Furuichi could see Kiba-kun cutting straight through the barrier and meeting the magician's body with his blade.

He was about to snarl something loudly but Kirin appeared beside him, staring at him with a look of confusion. "I had not known you were heteromorphic," he muttered in jest. Furuichi bit at the air in annoyance and the Pillar General, dirtied with evident signs of fighting, pulled the blade out and with one strike of his tonfas got rid of the ice. Kirin handed Furuichi the blade/

"The magicians here will soon overwhelm those two kids," Kirin told him. Of course, there was no doubt about that. Kirin helped Furuichi up to his feet and the young lieutenant stood up without any problems. It wasn't to say he could not feel the pain in his leg, however, the senjutsu was helping him, and his vampire pride did not allow him to show weakness in front of a superior. Even if his uniform didn't do it, Furuichi would have saluted if the situation allowed it - albeit grudgingly.

"Then I'll-" before anymore could be exchanged on the matter a random blast of a Light Spear crashed behind them, and both Pillars looked up to see Azazel fighting a woman in the air. "Uwahhh~" Furuichi cried. "It's a beautiful and voluptuous onee-san~"

"That's Cattleya Leviathan!" Kirin yelled in shock.

"I know the beautiful onee-san's name now too~" Furuichi yelled happily. Thanks to his senjutsu, he could see that the onee-san was using all she had to fight the Fallen Angel Governor, but there were also emotions warring inside her. Emotions like hatred, envy, and anxiety. Furuichi could tell that woman was far outstripping him of strength, but perhaps it was a fetish of his vampire side, but he liked that idea. "Uwahhhh~ The beautiful onee-san has complex feelings! It's a mature troubled onee-san!"

Kirin sweatdropped as he stared at the bubbling Furuichi as his now scarlet red eye were filled with passion and joy. "Furuichi get a hold of yourself." Kirin grabbed the lieutenant's shoulders and shook violently.

"I am!" Furuichi cried, and suddenly a voice inside him cried out.

|Mild Soul Convergence Terminate|

Immediately Furuichi blinked and looked at him. "Ah was I strong just now?"

"I saw a little of your fight, but honestly, if you fought with even some of those Red Tails the Pillars engaged with at the Akuma high school, you'd probably lose because of your lack of variety and skill," Kirin answered honestly. Furuichi deflated and nodded.

Before anymore could be said, Kirin pushed Furuichi aside and landed far away from him. A loud explosion could be heard as a Devil landed in between them, his large frame leaving a small crater where he stood. "Yo~ Yo~ I'm General Crow, nice to meet all of you!" The Devil said as he gave a mock salute.

"Che!" Kirin said as he stared at the Devill, no, with his ears that would make him a Demon from Makai. "Crow!" Kirin reacted instantly and attacked but the Demon General blocked the attack with a large broadsword.

"Ohhhhh~ Kirin-chan you're here!" Crow exclaimed happily. "It's been so long, greetings, greetings!" The Demon General pushed Kirin away and started bowing happily to Kirin from the waist.

"Kuh! General Crow, the leader of the 1st Cry Legion that rebelled against Beelzebub-sama!" Kirin yelled. Furuichi felt his jaw drop. A seriously dangerous opponent appeared! He didn't know his name, nor did he know his true power, but that was a setting fitting a second-tier boss in a game! No, it was the guardian to the boss! Uwaahh! His childish behaviour only made him scarier in his eyes.

"Kirin-chan...eh? What are you doing now? Are you still the tribal warrior for the Bone Fang Tribe? Ara~ Don't tell me you still didn't marry that girl yet! Ara~ Ara~ Poor Kailina-chan~" Kirin's face contorted into something truly nasty as he twirled his tonfas in his hand.

"You bastard! You traitor!" Kirin yelled.

"Eh? Me? But from my perspective you're the traitor though~" Crow replied as he chewed on a cookie from his pocket.

"Furuichi! I give you permission to call on any Pillar ranked higher than General. Anyone! I'll apologize to Jabberwock-sama personally!"

Furuichi blinked but then nodded his head quickly, "Of course, I'll-agh!" But Crow had turned to meet Furuichi with a large smile on his face. The man punched Furuichi in the jaw and sent him flying several feet. Without the strengthening magic, Furuichi felt his lower jaw crack from the hit, but perhaps due to the toughness he'd gained, it didn't outright break. He hit the ground hard but was able to flip himself to his feet. "Agh! You-!"

"Of course I'd deny my enemy as much advantages wouldn't I?" Kuh! It was different to fighting delinquents. At least the delinquents Furuichi was used to. Most of the really strong guys he met were okay with letting someone prepare to have a proper battle. But, yes, it couldn't be helped. That was because Furuichi was in a war right now. He was a soldier, not a delinquent, and his enemy was also of the same mind. "Kirin-chan you're friend isn't all that interesting."

"Don't look down on me!" Furuichi said but before he could rise to his full height a loud explosion was heard. The three of them turned to see that Azazel had been friendly fired by one of his team members. "A traitor?!" Furuichi yelled. A sudden presence was suddenly in front of Furuichi, and he turned just in time to widen his eyes as Crow was swinging his large sword towards him.

For a moment, Furuichi felt fear. For a moment, he felt utter fear of death. His body shook, and he was unsure how he would face. Everything slowed down and he eyed the falling sword with fear and trepidation. He could see that Kirin was racing to meet him, but he was too slow. 'Ah, am I going to die?' Furuichi thought as he stared at the sword.

His back was sweaty, his face felt like it was about to contort into some pitiful. Ah. He could see Xenovia from the corner of his eyes. He could see that she was staring at the battle in front of her, but in his heightened state, he realised that she was slowly dawning on a realisation of his predicament too as she slowly turned her head.

Ah, how would that girl be without him? She was awkward, thick and dense like Oga, but she was a good girl. She was normal around Furuichi, but what would happen if Furuichi wasn't there? She would still have her friends in the Gremory group, but would that be the same?

He thought about Lamia. He thought about the anger her face would show if she would have to operate on his corpse in the vain hope that he would not die. He wondered about how she would scream and yell, scolding him for dying. But that was just her tsun-tsun side. Lamia on the inside would cry.

Furuichi blinked.

What would Oga do if he died. Would he care? Of course he'd care. But he had troubles of his own. He had to face battles of his own. Even if he were to care, what could he do. What would he feel about the situation. _It was his fight and he just lost_. That sounded like him, but-

" _You're damn strong already, even if you're not using those tissues"_

"I'm not gonna die here!" Furuichi's mind flashed and even though at that moment he was human, albeit a human with upgrades, he managed to pull his head back far enough for the blade to leave a shallow cut on his chest. "I got a place to stand you twitchy lipped freak!" Furuichi sweatdropped as he felt his vampire side suddenly come alive inside him at the fire burning in his heart. "If you think I'll die to some bastard swinging an overcompensation sword around you have another coming to you!"

"Kuh! It's not an overcompensation sword! It's a sword of Darkness!" Crow suddenly yelled, a look of embarrassed irritation on his place.

"Did you get it off a dead enemy?" Furuichi asked with a straight face.

"Eh? No I bought it."

"Overcompensation~"

"Ehhhhh! Why?!"

Crow launched another assault, but Furuichi had lived through life and death situations where he couldn't do a damn thing. Dodging was his specialty. He pulled himself back and twisted his body, he was always a step in tune with Crow's movements, and he didn't show any sign of fear on his face as he narrowed dangerous ironclad eyes at his enemy.

Finally he ducked underneath the strike and with all his strength he launched a bunch at Crow's chest. It landed with a soft thud and the Demon General showed no outward sign of having felt it. Of course he wouldn't. Who would have felt anything? Despite his newly added strength, Furuichi was still weak. Very weak. Incomparable to his classmates in Ishiyama.

"Dead Man's Rhapsody!" Crow yelled and Furuichi felt several consecutive strikes slam into his chest, causing blood to splurt out of his mouth, and for him to launched away hitting the ground. "You're nothing more than a weakling!" Crow said with a wide smile. "It's a shame~ You've got a fire in your eyes that I would have loved to have seen in a subordinate~"

Furuichi slowly picked himself up off the ground, and both Crow and Kirin watched it silently, not paying attention to the battle between the Vanishing Dragon and the Welsh Dragon. They were in their own world. No, as combatants, they were showing Furuichi the respect he deserved. Crow was a General and Kirin was a Pillar Serpent Guard, they were practical people, but even so they could not hide the fact that they were moved with the sudden fire in Furuichi.

"All you guys ever care about is strength," Furuichi said as he placed his hand on his knees for support. "I'm the weakest, I get it. Without the help of the Pillars I'd be useless," Furuichi then slowly rose to his feet and looked at Crow with a withering look. HIs eyes were narrowed, the pupils looking dead and steely, and his face was impassive. "I'm weak. That won't change anything. I can't fight by myself worth a damn." Furuichi stepped forward. "But I was never a bull-rushing idiotic primate." Furuichi smiled and looked down at Crow's leg.

Crow followed his gaze and was surprised to find a knife lodged in his knee, no, lodged wasn't right. It was hanging limply by the thread of his trousers. However, there was ice around his knee, and he hadn't noticed it because it honestly didn't hinder him at all. Crow looked at Furuichi, unsure of what to care about the ice, when he felt his leg stiffened. He looked down and realised that the ice had grown. "Kuh, senjutsu?!"

"It was difficult," Furuichi said as he gripped his broken ribs. "I didn't know how I activated Mild Convergence, but I was able to tap into the youkai abilities to properly infuse ki into the ice to make it stronger and force it to grow."

"Impossible," Crow said.

"I know it breaks the laws of physics!" Furuichi said.

"No, the ice is really cold!" Crow shot back.

"Huh?! It's ice you nitwit! Of course it's cold!"

"Eh?! No way~ The ice in my home tribe were boiling hot though!"

"What kind of home did you live in?!" Furuichi exclaimed. Before anything else could be said Kirin attacked Crow from the back, and the Demon General brought his sword around and managed to block the attack. At the same time he pulled out an extra blade and stabbed it into his thigh. Blood oozed out and to Furuichi's shock it began melting the ice.

"You're pretty smart," Crow said. "And you have potential, I like that." Crow turned to him and said, "Contract a demon. Kirin isn't close to enough to fight me. Bring me a good one too, I'm bored~" He said as he punched Kirin away.

Furuichi felt his face go rigid. The Demon General was too nonchalant. If that was the case then Furuichi would have to bring up the Pillar best suited for him to do battle with. He couldn't just call in Jabberwock or Behemoth, as they had administrative duties and right now they must be very busy. But he couldn't call on any Baron just like that. Naga was in charge of the Scripture Brigade, the magic corp, so he would obviously be busy. Vritra was in charge of the defense network of the fortress, pulling her away provided too much risk. Laymia was a medical officer so she would be needed in the battle outside.

Furuichi bit his lip. The Generals provided more variety and flexibility in options for him but he worried whether or not their strength is sufficient. No, if Kirin's strength was not sufficient, then a Generals' wouldn't be either. Furuichi had to think it through soundly and perfectly, and if he did not, then death awaited him.

Finally he made a decision. "Then, it has to be you." Furuichi decided. Out of everyone, this choice was the best option. It was the most sensible, and he could at least trust them enough to be able to work well with his body. "Then, come!"

His mind was immediately filled with the formula he needed. He'd slowly memorised the formulas needed for each Pillar but this one was one of the more recent ones. A presence filled inside him and Furuichi felt a sigh escape his lips.

"Why have you called me here?" A soft voice asked. Furuichi turned to the Demon. Wearing a short red tank top, her Pillar Coat, and a short skir. Ananta stared at him with a blank stoic expression as she awaited her answer.

 **Not much else to say here. I've been busy lately, but I'm not gonna lie I spent most of my time reading Light Novels and working on an original story I've been writing.**

 **I wanted to have Shalba appear here and fight Furuichi, however, after giving it some thought, Furuichi's battle strength isn't really enough to fight against the descendant of Beelzebub. After this battle I plan on Furuichi going out in the DxD world and have his own adventures, maybe have a few cameos from a few other shows too.**

 **There's also more original characters, but don't worry they all play a part and I'm not throwing any of the Beelzebub and DxD characters away. After this chapter I'll probably delve more into it. It's about time Furuichi returned to Ishiyama and shows off his new side.**

 **I actually really recommend people to read Overlord and New Gate. I liked Overlord, but the way they treated humans, with the torture of Hilma and the breeding pens in mind, really grated on my nerves and I really wanted to see the MC fall. It really is like that. It's a good story with a villain MC and MC Cast. New Gate is the exact opposite and it's really good too.**

 **I may be just a prude, not liking reading fictional human beings get treated like tools and animals and tortured, and liking a more mundane LN copycat story, but I have a very vivid imagination, and it's not hard for to empathize with fictional characters. But I recommend New Gate over Overlord if you're like me. I haven't gotten that far. In Overlord I'm at Men in the Kingdom, or something like, but I've read enough of the next few chapters to know it isn't for me, while Gate still seems like a nicer more 'good' MC alternative.**


	16. Chapter 16

"Hoooh~" Crow muttered as he stared at Furuichi. "Ananta, you look as cute as always." Furuichi felt beads of sweat form on his cheek as he felt Ananta glare at the Demon General.

"Crow," Ananta said slowly. She turned to look down at the blade in his hand. "The Sword of Vindication. You've been busy." She raised an eyebrow at it. "Overcompensation," she said with a straight face.

Crow faltered. "Not you too Ananta-chan~" The Pillar looked at him with cold eyes and began surging demonic energy into Furuichi.

"Hooh. You can take quite a lot, Lieutenant Furuichi," Ananta said. Furuichi felt his wounds heal and his fists gaining power. "I'm a technique-type fighter, not a power or wizard type. You are aware of this are you not."

Furuichi nodded his head. Barring Hecadoth, Ananta was the only technique fighter with skill and intuition that Furuichi felt managed to blend well with his fighting preference. She was quick, calculative, and calm. She didn't over extend herself with acrobatics and flashy movements, and her personality wasn't as chaotic.

"Hmm. You have quite the confidence in my abilities," Ananta stated as she watched him. "Are you going to be using your King's Crest soon?"

"Eh?" Furuichi asked. Ananta pointed at his King's Crest which was dim and not flowing any power through.

"I can tell you haven't used it in a while," Ananta said as she waved her hand over the Crest. "No residual demonic energy or anything like that. Well, this is a good way not too alert anything suspicious back to Oga at Ishiyama. We can fight without it."

"Y-yes," Furuichi replied uncertainly. He looked to see Kiba and Xenovia now staring at Crow, their hands gripping their swords as the Demon General casually waved at their direction. "Kiba-kun, I need a sword."

Kiba nodded easily and produced a demonic sword for him. He threw it effortlessly towards him and Furuichi caught it deftly. It would be better to say that Ananta caught it through use of his arm though. Furuichi gripped the hilt tight and felt Ananta enter him.

Again, his soul burned bright, the other souls now mimicking that of a Human's to make it easier for Ananta to possess his body. " **Kirin, are you fit to attack?** " Kirin's voice was heard behind the Demon General, out of Furuichi's sight, and he then turned his eyes to Kiba and Xenovia.

"There are still more magicians," Kiba said, glancing to the skyline. "But they seem occupied." Furuichi nodded and began twirling the blade in his hand, getting used to the weight and feel of the grip. It was splendidly made, and showed a great deal of consideration in its design. Furuichi made a sound of pleasure as he took up a light stance with his blade by his side.

"Come now. I'm getting bored~" Crow said as he wagged his fingers at Furuichi. Just then, Xenovia dove in swinging her Durandal at Crow's waist. He bent himself by the waist and completely dodged the wide strike. He then kicked her away with a smooth spin of his heel then block an oncoming strike from Kirin. Then he pushed Kirin to the side and blocked the next strike from Kiba using the end of his pommel. "Oh~ Very good. Very good."

He pushed Kirin away then swung his blade lazily for Kiba's neck. The boy bent himself back to dodge the attack but he couldn't block the kick to his chest. Kiba was then tossed back towards Xenovia, his shows scraping against the floor.

Furuichi then attacked. Ananta's kill with the blade rivalled that of Kirin with his tonfas. She worked best as a one-handed fighter, and her body was flexible and well limbered enough to make use of her small frame. While Furuichi was taller than her, his frame wasn't overly muscled and still limber enough for most of her katas to not be useless. However, the most deciding factor of Ananta was that she aimed for weak spots, not opening in a guard, rather purposefully going out of her way to forego stance and proper sword movements for flashy moves towards the enemy's vitals and tendons. That is to say, she made it obvious where she was attacking. If the enemy defended her, then in most cases, their blade would be set in an awkward position or their stance would be broken, if the enemy ignored it and attacked, Ananta was nimble enough to dodge and redirect her blade to still land a blow on her opponent. It was a cheap and underhanded still. It fit Furuichi perfectly.

Crow stumbled backward when he aimed low for his knee. It was a straight jab and could have easily been blocked or swatted away, but Furuichi had pushed himself close to Crow, so much that his shoulder was just shy of touching his chest and Crow could neither defend nor attack at such a close distance.

He pulled his leg back and tried to push Furuichi back with a punch to his gut. The possessed man easily twisted around the strike, so that now his back was up against Crow's chest, and elbowed his solar plexus. Crow grunted and moved backwards, just enough for Furuichi to slash at his chest. But he only managed to cut through the shirt.

"Ahahah~ Not bad!" Crow said happily. "Too bad though~ I've long since gotten used to your fighting techniques." Furuichi felt a brief amount of irritation in the back of his head and hard cold logic began to filter through his thoughts as he processed his previous battle. Crow was letting him hit him, Furuichi decided, he was letting him get close and show of his abilities.

Furuichi frowned. " **Will you not be fighting us seriously, Crow?** " The Demon General smiled lazily at him and flicked his chin up into the sky. Furuichi scrunched his eyebrow, then he felt a large buildup of magical energy and just barely managed to jump out of the way of a dragon encased in flame from burning him to cinders.

"Us two against you four is already an unfair advantage," Crow admitted as the magician from before, Neil, drifted down by his side. "We need to even the playing fields."

"The swordswoman got me good on my shoulder," Neil said as he placed a hand on a gash over his right collarbone. "Also, Cattleya is dead."

"I know," Crow said. "But until those Dragons are done fighting our battle here won't end." Crow showed a indulging smile. "Afterall, I owe them for taking my Fortress from me~" He took up a fighting stance, his legs spread apart as he brought demonic energy surging around him.

"Agh, I contracted a troublesome Demon," Neil muttered as lightning began to flicker in his hand. "Then I'll start us off. Critical Mass: Great Lightning!" A zig-zagging arc of dense electrical energy was shot out of his fingertips, racing to meet one of them. However, Durandal appeared and managed to dispel the attack with a single burst of its holy aura.

Kirin then jumped in, attacking the magician up high while Kiba swung for his waist. The magician pulled out an estoc and managed to catch Kiba's blade, while he sent a short beam of energy towards Kirin. The Pilar deflected it with a swing of his tonfas but Crow sprung into action and grabbed Kirin by the neck. The Demon General then turned in midair to bodily throw Kirin at Kiba, who was forced to drop his sword or otherwise risk harming Kirin.

Furuichi then jumped him. The lieutenant shortened the distance between him and the magician and swung an impressive right. The magician blocked it, but at the same time Furuichi was thrusting his sword forward. The magician was able to bring up a small barrier around his hands in order to block the blade, but it still managed to cut his sides.

"Switch!" He said and pushed Furuichi back with surprising strength coupled with some wind magic. He jumped back and Crow took his place, swinging his broadsword as he chased after a retreating Furuichi.

" **Such wide swings**!" Furuichi said mockingly as he dodged another strike.

"Ah, you've disappointed me," Crow said as he flicked his wrist. A magical circle appeared beneath him and Furuichi felt his leg get locked in place. The sword was swung and Furuichi could not dodge. So instead he flooded demonic energy from his King's Crest into his left arm and blocked the sword attack with it.

Because he couldn't feel anything on that arm it barely affected him, and he managed to counterattack, scoring a cut on Crow's cheek before dodging backwards. But even if he didn't feel the damage he knew the sword had cut close to his bone and he was losing a lot of blood. " **The Sword of Darkness is really something**."

"It's the Sword of Vindication," Crow said happily, "As long as I fight for what I believe is right it'll never fail me~" He swung his sword again, and Furuichi deflected the blade. Xenovia jumped in behind Crow but the demon General was a far better swordsman. He blocked, parried, and deflected their simultaneous strikes effortlessly. He would use his pommel, his guard, his blade, every part of his blade was used expertly to block two strikes coming from two directions.

Finally he made a wide swing of his blade, catching the top of Xenovia's skull with his guard and knocking her back and cutting Furuichi's cheek. " **You betrayed Makai Crow. You betrayed the Maous**."

Furuichi hissed as the Demon General pressed his charge. "Eh~ But in my eyes you all betrayed the Maous~" Crow pulled back and used his sword like a club, knocking the demonic blade from Furuichi grasp. He then reached forward and grabbed at Furuichi's collar, pulling him up into the air. "Beelzebub-sama was already seated into position when the rebellion started, and everyone was saying no more war. I don't understand~ We're soldiers, we're supposed follow orders not rebel~"

He didn't wait for Furuichi to reply and instead slammed him into the ground. He raised his sword, prepared to finish the fight with a single stab to the heart. But Ananta forced more demonic energy into Furuichi. Filling him to his ultimate capacity, and he managed to wrench the hand on his collar free and grapple Crow's neck with his legs. With a near desperate snap, Furuichi tossed Crow over his legs and towards the courtyard.

The lieutenant flipped himself up to his feet and stared at Crow, but just as they were preparing to jump at each other again, a loud explosion rocked the ground. Furuichi turned his head and felt his eyes widen at the large crater on the ground. The magician was at the center, his arms now bare as his sleeves looked to have been burned off, with arcs of electricity traveling between each fold of muscle. Kirin was behind him, his uniform close to tatter, his jacket now thin strips of cloth revealing the short sleeved undershirt. Kiba on the other hand was on the ground, his swords laid out against the floor as he seemed to be knocked out.

Both Neil and Kirin had extensive wounds all across their bodies, with Neil sporting a large gash atop his right eye that was flowing blood freely down half his face. "Ara~ Ara~ Usually it's sword fights that lead to a lot of blood. I feel lacking as a swords master looking at this." Crow laughed quietly and lazily placed his sword on his shoulder. He turned to look at the old school building, and realised that the battle had already been over, with the Vanishing Dragon gone and the Dragon Emperor on the ground taking a breather. "Oops~ I'll be dead if the Maous turn their sights on me."

Crow suddenly disappeared from sight, surprising Furuichi who quickly turned to Neil only to realise that he was gone as well. He bit back a curse and sighed loudly. " **Is this a war we're looking at? It has to be a war.** " He muttered slowly. He cut off the contract and Ananta disappeared from inside his body.

Slowly he crumpled to the ground just as the barrier was broken and reinforcements funneled themselves into the schoolyard. Furuichi grimaced and slowly sat down, He heard a groaning next to him and turned to see Xenovia stirring in her unconscious state. The bruise on her head was welling up into an ugly black and blue color, and her Durandal had already returned to its dimensional sheath. With a sigh, he cupped Xenovia's hand, hoping that would be enough for her to still. She immediately stopped and tightened her grip on his hand.

"Lieutenant-dono," he heard a calm female voice say. Furuichi turned to see Laymia making her way towards him, Alaindelon behind her decked out in his full-plate armor. She fluidly dropped to her knees and began to heal him, and with that, he felt his his muscles loosening and finally the fatigue settled in.

* * *

He woke up in the Northern Fortress, his body aching and his mind a mass whirlwind of information. He rubbed at his head, feeling it calm, and finally pushed himself off the bed. The hospital was occupied with only one other person, and that was Kirin, who was staring at the wall in a bored fashion as he was cocooned in layers of bandages. "When my mother told me that I was a caterpillar waiting to become a butterfly, I never thought she meant it literally," Kirin said stoically. Despite himself, Furuichi couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the odd humor.

"What happened after I fell asleep," Furuichi.

"Oh a lot of things," Furuichi turned to see Hecadoth leaning up against the side of the door. However, he too was bandaged, with cuts and bruises all across his arms and face. "It was pretty hectic while you all were on the human world."

"Hecadoth!" Furuichi yelled in surprise and worry. "What happened to you." Hecadoth uncrossed his arms and walked down the length of the room. He then finally pulled out a chair and sat on it, hanging his coat on the back.

"The 1st Cry Legion attacked the Northern Fortress while the Peace Meeting was being conducted," Hecadoth told them. Furuichi rubbed his hands together. A part of him knew he should be worried about this, but another part of him also wondered how this affected him. His mission was to guard the Maous at Kuoh Academy and check up on things. The attack on the Northern Fortress didn't affect him. But like a lot of times, Furuichi was beginning to understand that now, his priorities no longer started and end with the shenanigans that Oga went through. Now he was fighting a war, for a country, even though he wasn't even their citizen. A part of him wondered if he should quit, that he didn't ask to fight for a place he didn't even call home, but another part of him decided to stay. He had friends here in the 34th, he had friends in Kuoh and friends who were Devils. Xenovia was a devil, Lamia was a demon, so was Hecadoth, Agiel, and Kirin and soon they would fight a war. A part of him knew he would be abandoning them if he were to say that this wasn't his fight.

"What happened?" He asked tentatively. He didn't know the situation in Underworld as well as he should. He didn't know the politics to a degree where he could safely understand and predict certain decisions and likely outcomes. He didn't know how Devil society worked. How the Evil Piece System works, how the Royal Peerage worked factoring in the Evil Piece System, how the armies work, how the defense system work, how the foreign policies work, he didn't know anything about any of this. He couldn't find it in himself to give a damn, but at the same time he knew he should, because he knew that he would soon have to be fighting for this country.

It's hard to be a soldier for the Underworld when you weren't even affiliated with them in that manner. The only drive Furuichi had right now was that if the Underworld was in trouble, then by extension so were his friends, his family, and him as he would now be targeted as a member of the New Maou Faction.

"We were caught unawares," Hecadoth said, "They used an old trick to disguise themselves from our sensors, and attacked by the west side of the Fortress when the shift was changing. We barely managed to rally enough of the Defense Force to meet the attack, but by then the enemy had already spread out towards the main keep. Several Generals were injured, but the Barons managed to hold the line against the Cry Legion."

"What does this mean?" Furuichi asked.

"Our defense network has been compromised," Kirin cut in. "The Cry Legion can abuse this trick until it's updated across all the strongholds of Makai and Underworld, but until then, it's open season. How many men do you think we'll lose after repeated strikes like that before we manage to fix the problem?"

Hecadoth shook his head. "Some of Makai's strongholds are old, older than the Maous. They barely have any working modern formulas for defense and offense. Ironically, they're the ones we were able to update the quickest, but at best those old ruins can only hold two hundred, maybe three hundred armed soldiers for defense." Hecadoth sighed loudly. "And Underworld doesn't have enough men to spread themselves out like that. The Underworld Armed Forces is made up of privately owned armies of several families. The Pillar Division is owned by Behemoth-sama, and as such we have enough money and influence to have our manpower in the close four hundreds, but our numbers are finite. Even the Axiom Ranger only have close to a thousand active duty full-time professionals, with an extra thousand capable of being fielded from retired soldiers and young men from the Ajax family lands to be conscripted in times of war."

"How much does the Cry Legion have?" Furuichi asked, and from the looks on their faces, Furuichi dreaded the answer.

"The Cry Legion was once the staple army of the Lord of the Flies. They were the shining golden child, the ones who turned Makai into a battlezone and brought it down to its knees. The Cry Legion was once made up of 5 legions all together, each having a total of eleven thousand, six hundred and fifty-eight men each." Furuichi blanched and looked at Hecadoth with wide eyes. That was a grand total of fifty-eight thousand, two hundred and ninety soldiers. "After Makai was conquered though, most of the Legions were either disbanded or dissolved into the 1st. At the time of the rebellion, the 1st had fielded a total of twenty thousand soldiers against the Anti-Maou Faction."

"They said, once, that wherever the Cry Legion marched, the voices of the twenty thousand soldiers would turn to billions, their feets would rumble as though the great dragons themselves had decided to bring their powers down on the Underworld all together," Kirin muttered.

"Simple noise amplification spells," Hecadoth said. "But they were effective, and there were members of the Legion that were strong enough to contend with our Barons blow for blow." Furuichi felt some despair at that. A part of him wondered if he could rope in Oga to tank for him, but then he shook his head and thought better of it. There would be no way Oga would involve himself in a war like this.

"Your sister is here by the way," Hecadoth said, causing Furuichi to jump. Furuichi looked at him as though his whole world was about to come crashing down on him. "She's unconscious, there's no need to be worried. That Xenovia girl and Lamia performed the operation with great success."

"So she doesn't think I'm Kokabiel?"

Hecadoth huffed, "I wouldn't know. You'll have to wait until she wakes up to know." The three of them lapsed into a comfortable silence. It was only when a loud bubbly Agiel entered the room that Furuichi finally decided to leave. Just as the door slammed closed he heard Kirin make a loud exclamation of pain.

As Furuichi traveled down the halls of the Fortress, he could see the scars and damages of the recent attack. Some of the rank and file Pillars were limping or helping injured members get to where they needed to be.

Some of them took the time to try and salute Furuichi but he politely waved them off, letting them go on their own way. He accidentally stumbled upon Vritra directing a group of Pillar soldiers in removing rubble from a collapsed tunnel. She was wearing her Pillar Coat, and he usual lazy, half-tired eyes were glaring at the rock.

"Lieutenant," Vritra greeted without looking at him as he passed her.

"Vritra-san," Furuichi replied. His shoulders shook when she turned to him slowly, her gaze intensifying as she stared at him.

"I heard you fought against Crow with Ananta," she said. Furuichi nodded his head shakily. She watched him for a moment then turned back to the tunnel. "It was lucky you called Ananta. She was at the office when she was called, so she came to no harm. Lamia is waiting for you at the second floor. You know the way?"

"Yes, thank you," Furuichi replied. He quickly moved away from the Pillar Baron and bypassed most of the destruction with some of the shortcuts he had memorized from his few moments in the Fortress as well as through some of Kirin's memories. It wasn't long until he found Lamia inside a cleared out room, obviously used to treat critically injured personnel. "Lamia," Furuichi said as he entered the room.

Lamia looked up at him in surprise. "Furuichi!" She cried out, then to Furuichi's own surprise, she ran full on towards his chest and threw her arms around him. He blinked in surprise and steadied her with his own hands on her shoulders. She wasn't crying, but that was a mute point as she was shaking like a leaf in a hurricane.

Now that Furuichi thought about it. Lamia most likely returned back to Makai after his parents left and was most likely present during the siege. Just then, Furuichi looked down at Lamia with sadness in his eyes. _The things she must have been through_ , Furuichi thought, suddenly heartbroken. He gently kept his hands on her shoulders, and as he sat there, he realised that, even thought there were many injured personnel, this room was empty. The beds had been neatly tucked in, yet there was obviously scattered equipment used and discarded in frantic disorder. Furuichi thought to himself, _how many died here, no, how many did Lamia couldn't save._

Suddenly all that doubt was turned into burning fire. Furuichi had never felt it before. This was a feeling Furuichi usually hid away inside him. This was a feeling that didn't belong in Furuichi. Oga never needed it from him, he never needed this feeling welling up inside Furuichi. Oga was strong, and even when he failed, he was strong. Oga only ever got stronger, and Furuichi learned that this feeling was useless. Oga needed him to feel fear, needing him to feel resolute to stand by his side, needed him to be shameless for him to poke fun and laugh at, needed him to be smart enough to reign in sense yet dumb enough to compliment him. Oga needed him to be Furuichi. This feeling inside Furuichi didn't belong. He'd only shown it once, and even then, it was only channeled into determination.

Furuichi felt rage. He felt anger. He felt vindication. He felt himself burn up with the need to fight. Furuichi had always looked at those people who fought for reasons that don't make sense as stupid. But right then and there, Furuichi came to understand them. _How could they?_ Something in him snapped. All the inhibitions he felt just a moment ago disappeared. He suddenly felt whatever weight on his shoulders lift. He would fight. It didn't matter that this was not his country. He was fighting for something more than a country. He was fighting it for this little girl in his hands.

* * *

"Lamia," a soft voice said behind them. Furuichi looked over his shoulder to see Laymia standing there, her pink hair pulled up into a ponytail and her eyes seemingly haggard. "My apologies Lieutenant-dono." Laymia bowed to him but Furuichi quickly waved it off.

"No, no," Furuichi said with a small smile. "It's okay." Still his hands did not leave Lamia's shoulder, and Laymia's eyes no doubt caught it. She hesitated for a moment, before bending down and pulling Lamia to her chest. Furuichi provided no opposition and simply step back. It was only a few moments later when Lamia sniffled loudly and pulled herself back to look at Furuichi.

"Honoka's memory fix was successful," she said, her hands crossed over her chest and a fake haughty expression on her face. Furuichi didn't comment on it and nodded in relief.

"Was there any complications?" He asked.

"No there wasn't," Lamia stated. She hesitated then added, "However we found out why her memories were tampered with." Furuichi blinked, and could not bring himself to react how he usually would. Instead he slowly sat down and looked at Lamia in the eye. The fire in his heart was still there, and it burned even brighter at this news.

"Why?" He asked. It was a levelled tone that Lamia had never heard from him before. Not even when he was trying to be cool. Fake and artificial as it was, this sounded flat and natural. Like Furuichi had been replaced with someone else.

"The action of replacing Kokabiel in the memory with you was to create a doorway into her memories," Lamia explained. When Furuichi gave her a confused expression, she elaborated. "Memories and brain functions are easily accessible through certain use of magic, however they take up a lot of time and energy, and need specialised equipment like the one we have at hand in the Fortress." Furuichi nodded his head. "However there are methods to circumvent this. Usually one needs the equipment and preparation in order to pinpoint a specific point, or node, of memories. But if you find a way to get the brain to manually begin searching it out, and then brute force your way in to collect the data, then you can have a relatively fast and indispensable way of obtaining information."

"So," Furuichi said, "The reason why Honoka was turned like that, was so she would think about me and thus reveal nodes of information for the assailant to then gather information from?" Lamia seemed surprise that he understood so quickly and nodded his head.

"Yes, that is essentially what happened. Honoka always knew that you were harmless as her brother, however the conflicting information and situation from what she thinks she remembers and what her brain is now programmed to remember caused a errors in her brain's functions. As she was rendered into an unstable state of mind, her brain then began rebooting the information she had on you, trying to find the source of the anomaly. The magician who caused this then just needed to tag along for the ride and collect information from there."

"I see," Furuichi muttered. He bent himself down and stared at the floor. The fire burned even hotter now that he realised this. These people had essentially used his sister, potentially psychological traumatise her just to gain information on him, even though they already knew so much. Furuichi felt his fingers tighten around each other. "Lamia, did my parents tell you anything I should know about."

"Ah, yes," Lamia said, then she looked at the ground and tapped her foot lightly on the floor. "Your parents said that they managed to find the money to pay for a private academy like Kuoh and plan on enrolling Honoka there permanently Gremory-sama was the one who offered it to them when he met them and recognised me as the daughter of one of the Pillars."

"I see," Furuichi said as he frowned. "No, that's good. Right here there's more people who could defend her. More people to keep her safe. I'll need to ask Xenovia for a favor to watch over Honoka, and if I can I'll see if I can get help from Behemoth-san."

"I'll help in any way I can," Furuichi blinked and looked up to see Xenovia, dressed in her Kuoh Academy uniform, standing at the entrance with a bandage across her head. "I'll keep Honoka-san safe as my future sister-in-law."

Furuichi sweatdropped but nonetheless welcomed her by patting the seat next to him. Xenovia obliged and sat down next to him. She sat straight in her seat, adopting a rigid soldier-like posture. Furuichi smiled for a moment and grabbed her wrist. Immediately her stance loosened. Lamia also took a seat next to Furuichi and she seemed to pointedly press herself onto his side.

Laymia, watching this scene silently, smiled to herself and began retracting back into the Fortress, giving them their privacy.

"I'm glad to see you're okay Xenovia," Furuichi said as he squeezed her wrist. Xenovia seemed shy at his remark and fidgeted in her seat.

"I'm also happy to know you're also fine." Furuichi nodded and then also placed a hand on Lamia's wrist. The girl's face turned scarlet crimson but Furuichi only smiled with his eyes closed, unaware of her expression, though he felt her grab his hand with her other arm, keeping it there as though it was a lifeline.

"I'll need to the of you to watch over Honoka. I need you guys to keep her safe. The Devil have provided the apartment with enough food and necessities to keep her fed and comfortable. But give her a little company if she needs it, and keep her safe."

"Where do you plan on going Furuichi?" Xenovia said, and her hand snaked up his back to rest on his shoulder. Furuichi was glad that only his arm couldn't feel anything, as it stood goosebumps rippled across all the skin that Xenovia passed.

"I'm going back to Ishiyama," Furuichi stated. "There are things that I need to check up on and investigate. I'll get the go ahead from Behemoth later today."

"You already have it," Behemoth said as he appeared from the window of the room. All three of them jumped at his voice and stared at him as he gave them a wide grandfatherly smile. "I too am curious on what the enemy plans to do on your front. Regardless, Ishiyama is where Beelzebub-sama's son is located in, and though I favor En, that does not I will forego my duty to protect the Maous family."

"Will I be going alone," Furuichi asked.

Behemoth scratched the back of his head. "I would like to offer you some men, but with the attack I'm not sure if I can find anyone willing to go with you." Furuichi smiled and shook his head.

"It's fine. At the end of the day I'm a lieutenant, so isn't it weird for me to call on the assistance of Generals and Barons?" Furuichi said. "But can I still call on them for a contract?"

Behemoth nodded his head. "That's right, you can. Their injuries won't be able to affect them from assisting you with demonic energy and skills." Furuichi nodded his head and sighed. Suddenly he felt something press up against his left side, and turned around to release his left arm had been pressed in between Xenovia's face. A part of him cursed the fact that the arm couldn't feel anything, and he looked down to see Xenovia staring up at him with a blush on her cheeks.

"If you're going, then a goodbye kiss," Xenovia said. Furuichi blinked, his face now turning a shade of scarlet red as Lamia made a choking noise next to him. "I was told that it was normal for a couple to do this, especially those who plan on becoming a married couple. Since you're going out on a mission, this counts as a business trip too, so it's expected of me to do this, in order to deepen our relationship." She said resolutely, her face adamantly determined.

Ah~ Furuichi thought. How cute. He bent down and felt Xenovia press her lips against his cheek. There was a ridiculously happy expression on his face as she pulled herself away and Furuichi felt himself ready to burst in joy.

There was a disgruntled noise next to him, and Furuichi looked down to see Lamia staring at the ground, her arms crossed and a pout on her face. Her cheeks were red and her eyebrows were frowning in annoyance. Confused Furuichi could only laugh quietly and wrap an arm around him.

"Wha!" Lamia cried out and looked up at him, her eyes wide, and he smiled down at her.

"Take care Lamia," Furuichi said, then his hand rested on her shoulder. "It's not good to bottle things up inside you. I know. If you need someone to talk to you, I'm here." Lamia's face turned scarlet. She stumbled for a moment then regained herself and humphed as she turned away from him.

"Idiot! I already know that. I got training on psychology from Dr Forcas," she said. Furuichi laughed and scratched at the back of his neck.

"Ah is that so. Then I'm sorry for pryi-"

"Same to you." Furuichi blinked and made a noise of confusion as he stared at her. "If you need someone to talk to, you can come to me. I know you're hiding somethings inside you."

"Ah I see," Furuichi smiled. "Thank you, Lamia." If Furuichi paid a little more attention he would have heard Xenovia mutter quietly, 'Kuh, she's good,' while Behemoth chuckled quietly to himself.

 **It always bothered me how it seemed like the Old Maou Faction was made up of nothing more than a few random devils and the descendants of the old Maous. I mean, the Devils who participated in the attack seemed to be nothing more than cannon fodder. I mean come on, there had to have been somebody in the military that sided with them. It was a fucking civil war where the nobles were going against the government, basically. It would make sense that the military would side on the Maou faction. So thus, the Cry Legion was born. Why not? It makes sense that a unit created specifically to war against Makai during the Beelzebub era would side with the original Beelzebub.**

 **Also, some Lamia romance in there too. You can basically get the feel of how I'm going to structure the romance between Xenovia and Lamia from this. Also, I don't think I need to explain Furuichi's shift of priorities here. In the manga, it's clear that Furuichi is like this by nature, but also because it's come to be expected of him, and it's his comedic duo with Oga. Here, when separated with Oga and given a position of power and control, it's only natural for vast deviations in character to occur. Furuichi is now not just a strategist, he's someone who has lives on his hands, has a very real danger of the people he cares about (and are defenseless) getting hurt. It's a slow but gradual climb to a more badass Furuichi, one who you'll see wearing the Pillar Coat with pride and respect.**

 **Also, I'm rereading the LN and Anime because it's been so long, and I really don't like what happened to Diadora's Peerage. The way how I look at it, his peerage are victims and honestly probably don't deserve what they got in the anime. I mean, two of them were eaten by Freed, and judging by his character, I don't doubt that it was slow. I'll probably add them into the story somehow. I don't know, I think it's just a waste on interesting characters and I'm biased. Cute and beautiful nun girls.**

 **And boomb! We're going back to Ishiyama! Yea, now Furuichi can show off his new side to Oga and the gang. If this was a LN would this count as Volume 1? I sure hope so, it dragged out way too long in my opinion. If I remaster this, I'd probably squeeze the majority of these chapters into one.**

 **Also as you can see with the addition of all these new factors, the 'preparatory period' which dominates most of the LN is going to be small if not nonexistant. With the addition of all these new things, it's only natural that high scale skirmishes or an outright war might begin. Also, since the Pillars are here there are going to be a lot more confrontations on Japan soil and Ishiyama soil as well as events outright being changed drastically. I'm probably gonna start doing mass deviations in the plot from here on out. Though, I'm not very good at writing the main cast of the DxD universe, so it'll be a while before I'll be able to write in their pov and show how these changes affect them. I can tell you what, Freed ain't gonna have a pleasant time. For the life of me I have no idea why Azazel did not kill Freed and instead kicked him out. Like WTF, you have a known enemy in your grasp, and you kick him out where he can continue to be an enemy.**

 **Anyway, peace~**


	17. Chapter 17

Honoka woke up the next morning with an extreme ache on her back. She couldn't realise why but she felt as though she'd been asleep for days rather than hours. With a disgruntled sigh she pushed herself off her bed and rubbed at her head as she entered the bathroom.

She stared at the mirror, at her disheveled hair and gaunt cheeks. With a slap to her face she riled herself up for the rest of the day and began brushing her teeth. Absentmindedly she checked her phone for the date and nearly spat out her toothbrush in shock.

It was sunday! That meant she had completely missed the parents visitation! No wait! She hit her fist onto her forehead. Somewhere in the back of her mind she got a vague imprintation of the parents visit and some comments from her mother and father about her drawing skills. But beyond that she couldn't dig deep enough for any substantial details.

She scratched her head, suddenly annoyed with the headache spreading from the back of her mind, and stepped into the shower. She was wearing some sort of blue gown that she couldn't remember ever once owning, but regardless she stripped it off and turned the valve for warm water to spray down her.

The one thing she truly loved about this new apartment was that it had a water heater. Her father had always advocated cold water in the mornings, and had then not invested in a water heater for the house. Honoka had gotten used to it after so many years but here she was allowed to drown in the utter bliss of a hot bath. With a near reverent sigh she began spreading her shampoo across her hair, massaging her scalp as she went along. She felt the headache disappear and Honoka began remembering tinier details.

Like a drawing her fingers didn't remember painting, a chat with her parents on her staying in Kuoh, and how her brother had been attacked in the middle of the ni - wait! wait! wait!

Honoka nearly slipped on her own two feet when the memories came flooding back to her, and she steadied herself by placing her hands on the wall next to the shower head. "Nii-chan...was attacked, then -" she couldn't recall any details after that. In fact she couldn't recall any details of him during the parent visit. A sudden emotion of worry filled her.

Was her brother okay? What had happened? Was he dead? Suddenly she felt panic and she quickly rinsed herself off. Then she scraped up whatever clothes she could find and pulled it over her body. Frantically, she opened her bedroom door, worried that she might see her parents waiting to tell her of a tragedy, or perhaps policemen knocking on the door. Her thoughts were so frantic that she had almost missed the trio sitting by the kitchen counter. In fact if it wasn't for a lot 'Ahhh~' then she probably wouldn't have noticed them at all.

Her brain had been subconsciously shielding her eyes from witnessing the scene in front of her.

Her brother was sitting on a stool with Xenovia-san, the self-proclaimed lover of her brother, sitting opposite him holding a chopstick with meat towards him. There was a look of comical determination on her face as she carefully guided the chopstick towards Furuichi's mouth, and her brother's ridiculous look of utter joy and happiness was almost sickeningly blinding. Absentmindedly, Honoka noted the small pinkette standing off to he side, staring at the scene with utter contempt in her eyes as she folded her arms. But there was no denying the jealousy.

Honoka visibly recoiled from the scene. At one point in her life, she had accepted that one day she would have to endure such scenarios in her household. However, as the years went by and her brother remained strictly single, Honoka had all but been assured that such a day was never to come. Now she realised that it had indeed come, and Honoka was struck silly in embarrassment, exasperation, and anxiousness staring at the scene.

"Mmm, not bad Xenovia. You've improved a bit since yesterday, though the seasoning is still bland," Furuichi commented as he slowly savoured the meat in his mouth. Xenovia nodded her head, no indication of a blush or stutter a normal highschool girl would experience at such an honest reply to her cooking skills, and made a determined fist in front of herself.

"Yosh! It's only natural that a wife would cook her husband's bento as he leaves for work. As Takayuki's girlfriend I fully intend to dedicate myself to the art of making a bento," Xenovia said. Her stare was so serious you could see a glint in her eyes.

Both the Furuichi siblings sweatdropped. "Ma, Xenovia-chan. It's nothing like that to take so seriously," her brother said in a vain attempt to bring the girl back to reality.

"No," Xenovia said firmly. "Kiryuu-san told me that food is the way to a man's heart, and more so is a bento. You can convey a myriad of feelings through bento! She told me that if I become skilled enough I can make cute bentos that would make my husband's heart go 'badump badump' and also sexy bento that would fill him with such a fiery lust that he would count the minutes until he could return and make babies with me!" She said with a straight face. Honoka could see her brother facepalming at her lively answer.

"That braid and glasses girl again," he muttered beneath his breath. He gave Xenovia a small indulging smile and patted her wrist. "Ma, Xenovia, I don't think the power of bento is that amazing. Isn't that right Lamia?" He turned to the tiny pinkette next to them.

Honoka nodded vigorously. Yes, tiny pinkette girl. Besides your illegal relationship with her brother you seem to be very smart. Please bring this delusional senpai to earth!

Lamia cupped her chin and stared at the ceiling. "Hmmm, if I recall correctly, mama told me she conceived me after making father a bento for papa's meeting with Hermaphrodite. She said that during lunch break papa came running back and carried her to their room."

"Ehhhhhhh?!" Both Furuichi's yelled. "Is that seriously the power of the bento?! Uwahhh, power, so powerful!" Both Furuichi's had different thoughts. While her brother was most likely not disturbed at the amount of power packed food had on his libido, Honoka was wondering if she should go home and learn some bento techniques from her mother.

"See," Xenovia exclaimed with sparkling eyes. She blinked then her eyes immediately found Honoka standing by the doorway. "Gimai-san! (Formal way to say sis-in-law [younger]) May you like to seat with us!" Xenovia said. Far too formal than what was warranted. All three of the other occupants blushed in embarrassment at her phrasing of the words.

No, in fact, what was she doing calling her sis-in-law. She wasn't even fully part of the family yet. Kuh, this girl!

However, before she could properly reprimand the older girl, her brother's slowly awkward turning to greet her caught her attention. "Honoka-chan," Furuichi said, a hesitant expression on his face. "Would you like breakfast?! Lamia cooked better dishes to eat, so you don't have to worry over Xenovia's cooking."

Caught off guard by her brother's hesitant words, Honoka could only tilt her head in puzzlement. You could practically see the question mark appearing above her head. At the same time, her brother made an audible sigh of relief and smiled at her. He gestured at an empty stool next to him, and still confused, Honoka sat herself down on it.

She looked at her brother and she was a little dismayed to realise that he had bandages and bruises all over his body. A part of her wondered if it was caused by the fight, but she knew that the time had long since past for her to ask about it naturally.

Her eyebrows show up in surprise when she felt her brother's hand atop her head, his finger rubbing a spot on her scalp gingerly. "How's your head Honoka? You took a nasty fall last time."

Honoka blinked, not remembering an incident where she had fallen and hit her head somewhere. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion but accepted the explanation for now. "There was a headache in the back of my head for a while, otherwise I'm fine."

Her brother's face had a look of unbelievable relief and it only pinched Honoka's suspicion that she did not just have a fall. But she couldn't say anything when a plate was pushed towards her. "It'd be good if you ate a little bit before you say anything else." Honoka nodded hesitantly and began waiting.

* * *

The relief was like a second person inside Furuichi. He was glad that at least this had no further complications to it. Now he had to worry whether or not Honoka would stay safe here. Furuichi had spent most of the other day running his rounds, checking up for anything out of the ordinary, and eliciting factors for his sister.

He found Kiba and asked him to keep an eye on his sister in school. The pretty flower boy had replied, 'Of course,' in a cool refreshing manner - die! - and he managed to ask Sona Sitri-sama to maintain an eye on his apartment complex.

"Say no more," she said, "As a student of Kuoh Academy, she is also my responsibility." Such dependable young people. Furuichi could trust these people far more than anyone else from Ishiyama; baring Kunieda and Oomori. Furuichi was glad that beyond Xenovia and Lamia, he had at least Sitri-sam - and by extension her peerage - as well as the Knight of Gremory-sama to fall back on. He contemplated asking Issei but the apparentness of a loli in his harem disgusted and annoyed Furuichi enough to label him a problem child. Thus, the Red Dragon Emperor was to stay as far away from his sister as possible.

"Honoka, I'm sure you remember mom and dad saying you'll be staying here, right?" Furuichi asked.

"Yea, that's right. I still don't know why I didn't say anything against it though, all my friends are back there," Honoka said as she chewed on her food. Furuichi felt a little bad about that and he silently asked his young sister to endure for a while.

"I'm sure you'll make new friends here, and it's not like you'll never get to meet them. It's an hour ride away," Furuichi said. An hour might as well be an eternity for a highschool student, Furuichi thought. "It's not like you could get into Saint Ishiyama with your grades."

He registered a sharp kick to his shin but he didn't feel any pain from it. He wondered if it was from his sister holding back or from his new upgraded body. "Listen, Lamia, I'm going back to Ishiyama for a while so you'll have to make due with Xenovia's and Lamia's company for a while okay."

His sister paused and it seemed she finally noticed how he was wearing the Ishiyama school uniform rather than his usual military garb.

"What? Why?!" She asked.

Furuichi quickly explained. "You know mom and dad can't really afford to send us both here, but Kuoh Academy is willing to give me a chance if I bring back my school records. That being said, the only thing Ishiyama keeps records in is attendance. So I'm hoping to get something arranged in Ishiyama."

"Arranged?" Honoka said, then her eyes narrowed and stared at him in accusation. "Is it illegal?"

Furuichi started sweating. Truth be told he had just made that excuse on the fly and hoped she wouldn't pry too deeply. "Nothing as serious as that, Honoka." Furuichi scratched at the back of his head, hoping against fate that Honoka would let it go. She narrowed her eyes for only a moment, but Xenovia had quickly jumped in to attract her attention.

"Gimai-san, I have a kouhai in the same year as you. If you want, I could introduce you to Koneko-san!" His little sister had whirled around and stared at Xenovia with widened surprised eyes. Furuichi sighed in a different sort of relief than before and listened attentively to the conversation.

"That Koneko-san! The school's mascot?" Honoka said in surprise. Xenovia nodded her head, unperturbed by the apparently famous kouhai of hers. Both Lamia and Furuichi sweatdropped though, knowing exactly why she was given a ridiculous title as 'mascot'.

"Well it's been fun, but I have to leave now," Furuichi said quickly. Her sister and the girls all made sounds of surprise and agitation, Furuichi was quick to filter them out and quickly leave the house. Once he was outside Furuichi clasped his hand and called for Alaindelon. "Please don't be disgusting," he silently prayed.

"Ma! Furuichi-kun, this was so sudden, I had no time to prepare," Alaindelon, dressed in his shirt and link boxers, said abashedly. Furuichi could already taste the bile in his mouth but he shook it off.

"Enough of that you disgusting old coot, just take me to Ishiyama already," Furuichi cried. Alaindelon spread himself open - not that way!- and allowed Furuichi into his body - most definitely not that way!. Furuichi silently accepted Alaindelon to take him in and it was almost a blink later that he was deposited on the rooftops near Ishiyama.

Furuichi patted the dust off his uniform and rose to his feet. Pierre was standing opposite him, and Furuichi made a loud gasp of surprise. He didn't have his tonfas with him, but Furuichi was confident in at least some of the techniques he learned. In the day since he arrived back to the Fortress, Hecadoth taught Furuichi some basic hand-to-hand to go along with his training under Kirin. Hecadoth's attack methods focused less on power and more on precision and evasion, so Furuichi found it a lot more likeable in terms of sheer potential. He was confident that he could at least hold a couple of blows against Pierre until he managed to use the random equation formula to call on a Pillar.

"Hold on, Furuichi!" Alaindelon suddenly said, grabbing Furuichi's shoulder. "It's alright, he's with us." Furuichi turned to him, surprised and utterly confused, then turned back to Pierre with sharp eyes. The magician waved a lazy hand at him and rubbed at the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"Like I said Lieutenant, I'm a mercenary. My time with the Khaos Brigade was merely business, and so is the time I'm here. Behemoth has already wired a hefty sum to my offshore accounts so you don't need to worry about paying me personally," Pierre said. Furuichi still didn't let his guard down. Of course, that was natural. How was one supposed to trust a mercenary who was once your enemy but now fought for your side because he was paid a lot of money?

"And how am I supposed to trust you? You could still be on the Khaos Brigade's payroll."

"Well I didn't expect you to believe me off the bat," Pierre muttered. Then he looked to Alaindelon. "Are you going to tell him?"

Alaindelon huffed. "Before coming to our side, Pierre-dono has revealed key information about the Khaos Brigade. Several of our compromised security systems have not been made aware of us, as well as some... _information_ leaks. He has also provided us with high valued locations and persons information. Not the leader, but their lieutenants that we have taken note of."

"Information such as that has made me an enemy of the Khaos Brigade. Even if I wanted to accept their coin again, I don't think they'll pay for anything more than my execution. What's the phrase? 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend?'" Furuichi mulled over the information in his head. All he said rang true, but at the same time there were too many variables. Too many 'what ifs'. But Furuichi couldn't exactly deny help, especially if it came from Behemoth, a person Furuichi at least believed to be the only sound thinking person in the 84th Pillar Squad, but even so Furuichi couldn't deny the suspicion inside him.

"Alright then," Furuichi said and he loosened his stance and scratched the back of his head. A part of him was lenient enough to let the matter go entirely, having lived through his life in Ishiyama, where enemies quickly became allies and then friends, Furuichi believed that perhaps in time he could trust Pierre, but a larger part agreed that the trust was a long time in coming. There were too many responsibilities on his shoulders now. The conflict wasn't about an inane reason like separating Oga from Beelzebub, or scouring the world in search of some unknown company, or even defeating Satan, a faceless mob boss that Furuichi had seen countless times before. This was a fight internally personal to Furuichi, and as such he couldn't just deal with it half-heartedly; wouldn't allow himself to.

"Hmm," Pierre muttered. "Well Commander, I'm sure you have other matters to attend to." Alaindelon took a bow and nodded, but before he left he tried to give Furuichi a goodbye hug, which earned him nothing more than a punch to his gut.

With Alaindelon gone both Pierre and Furuichi were left alone on the rooftops. The younger man decided to ignore the magician for the time being and instead turned to look at Ishiyama and - wait, wait, is that a giant hole in the building?

"Hehehe, it happened not too long before you arrived. It was pretty funny watching these stupid apes fight," Pierre commented. While Furuichi agreed with the stupid apes comment, he still fert territorial pride over his place in Ishiyama and gave Pierre a cold unforgiving gaze for his remark.

The magician raised his arms into the air to show he had meant no harm. Furuichi narrowed his eyes for good measure then returned to looking back at Ishiyama. With a final heavy sigh, Furuichi asked. "How exactly did you gain information about me?"

"I didn't need to try," Pierre told him honestly. "The delinquents here wouldn't stop talking about the Child Rearing Badass and the General Furuichi. Every alleyway and backstreet corner was a literal goldmine of information. Honestly I'm surprised how the demonic world hasn't gone public yet."

"It's probably because they're all delinquents." Furuichi muttered dryly. He waited a moment, some emotion of apprehension and worry deep down inside him. The school just didn't look the same stupid apes didn't seem so stupid as before, though they were still stupid, and the apprehension of his power level and the worry of maintaining his position as Oga's #2 had faded. "Oh, Paako and Tanimura!"

Furuichi moved before he could probably think and hopped off his perch on his rooftop. It was an action done without thinking, and the Furuichi of the past would have screamed and cried out, but the current one only made a small grunt as he landed on the ground.

"Ohhh! It's Mobicihi!" Paako cried out. "I thought Oga said you were out at a Hentai Convention!" Furuichi almost stumbled, but thanks to do that his lie ended up looking a lot more convincing as he adopted an embarrassed posture.

"H-huh? Oh yea I did!' Furuichi muttered.

" Trash," Tanimura's cold-hearted reply cut an arrow deep inside Furuichi's gut but he sucked it up with only a brief stumble.

"Wh-where's Oomori?" Furuichi asked.

"Why do you want to know, thrash," Tanimura shot back. Furuichi sweatdropped.

"Eh, Chi-chan, Aoi told us not to pick on Mobicihi too much," Paako lectured. For some reason hearing Paako say that only made him more depressed. "Anyway, Creepichi, Nene is at school studying for the entrance exams, so don't disturb her."

"M-mah, I wasn't planning on anything," Furuichi muttered. They talked for a little while past that, but it followed the usual pattern Furuichi always had with them. They showed their disgust at his perverted nature, and Furuichi tried his best to get close to the, but it had quickly broken apart when the two girls realised they were running late to school.

Furuichi watched them go then sighed audibly when he heard Pierre drop down behind him. "As far as I've gathered, you've gone a long way to make yourself appear harmless next to Oga. It probably wasn't all that hard considering Oga's power level next to the rest of the scraps of Ishiyama. You were aiming for any possible upstarts to consider you weak, likely increasing the chances of the boss facing you directly, so that you could finish it with on fight, right?"

Furuichi sweatdropped, keeping his face carefully blank as he nodded his head. While there was no denying Pierre was smart, his initial impressions of Furuichi in his uniform seemed to have warped his view of the young delinquent.

"Smart, I probably would have gotten annoyed at the constant acting and verbal abuse though," Pierre muttered and he looked at Furuichi with pitying eyes.

The lieutenant quickly moved away from the mercenary, silently crying about the pitious nature of his life. He ignored any interaction that stood in between him and Ishiyama and slipped into the delinquent school relatively unnoticed. But that was partly due to the brawl at the center of the courtyard.

Pierre was trailing idly behind him, while Furuichi kept himself busy with appearing as harmless as he could. There was no denying that the recent events had placed a sharpness on Furuichi.

"Pierre, do you sense anything?" Furuichi asked. "Or do you at least know how exactly the Khaos Brigade gathers information here?"

"The factions I dealt with weren't that interested in this area. I only gathered information here pertaining directly to you. Another faction of Khaos Brigade had been independently gathering information here," Pierre said.

"Do you know who?"

"I wasn't that deep with that part of Khaos Brigade. Most of my dealings was kept to the Devil and Magician side of things." So they knew absolutely nothing about what to be looking for here. That was fine, in a way, Furuichi had already expected that.

"The important thing is to find Oga," Furuichi muttered. Dense or no, at the very least he should be observant enough to notice something strange going on. But...Furuichi felt his hope on that field already dropping. At the very least he could go to Kanzaki and Himekawa, they were more dependable forms of information at the end of the day. "Pierre I'll trust you with this. Go out and try to keep an eye out on anything on the sky."

"Since you're my employer, I have no choice but to accept," Pierre replied as he dutifully bowed to Furuichi. The magician then disappeared out of eyesight, leaving Furuichi alone in the school that he once despised. It wasn't long until he stumbled onto one of his and Oga's usual haunts; the science lab.

Calling it a lab was like calling a shack a house. Anything even remotely pertaining to science had been removed. In part due to the delinquents present, and also because the school couldn't afford it. There was dirt and moss covering most parts of the room, as though in defiance to the fact that by right, it was only a year old after they rebuilt the school.

But Oga wasn't there, instead all he found was an empty room. Sighing in disappointment, Furuichi was prepared to turn around and go when his newly acquired instincts began blaring out loud warning signals. It was three steps past the door that he finally got the sense to duck, and right as he did a slab of metal flew over his head and crashed against the ground.

Furuichi jumped back and with a flick of his wrist a tonfa appeared on one hand and a knife on the other. It was difficult fighting with an arm that couldn't feel anything, but at the very least he was able to move it around without much difficulty. He hoped that one day he would be able to fix it. At the very least he knew that if he were to use Senjutsu again, it'd be much less difficult to know where his hands were.

"Ara ara!" Somebody said. "They weren't kidding when they said you were strong." Furuichi tensed his shoulders. He wondered if the enemy was a member of the Khaos Brigade. Perhaps a Fallen Angel, or maybe a Devil. The man finally stepped out out the shadows revealing a mohawk headed delinquent. "But listen here, I'm going to be the next head honcho of-" He didn't get to finish what he was saying as Furuichi dug his fist into the man's face.

"Seriously there are still punks like you around?!" Furuichi said in exasperated annoyance. The delinquent crumpled to the ground and he immediately took off running down the hallways. The longer Furuichi stayed there, the greater the chances of him getting sidetracked by punks like that, and he'd rather not stay there any longer than he already had to.

He kept running until he stumbled upon Nene and Kunieda inside a classroom, the both of them diligently studying in silence. "Kunieda!" Furuichi said, all pretense of perversion gone as he merely just wanted to find Oga.

"Furuichi!" Kunieda said in surprised greeting.

"You!" Nene said as she slapped her hands against her desk.

Furuichi smiled slightly and stepped up to her while scratching his head. "Were you studying? Ehehehe, sorry about that. But have you seen Oga around lately?" Kunieda blushed at the mention of Oga - you dirty bastard! - and Oomori returned to her seat with her arms crossed over her chest.

"O-Oga? i think he's on the roof," Kunieda said. She paused and then turned to give Furuichi a look. "But where have you been? I heard from one of the Red Tail girls that you were attending Kuoh Academy?"

"Eh? Is that so?" Furuichi panicked and tried to find a working excuse. "That was probably...my cousin!" All three of them sweatdropped at the obvious lie.

"Your cousin?" Oomori said.

"My cousin!"

"Your cousin?" Kunieda muttered in disbelief.

"...my cousin?"

"Wait, wait, what's with the question mark at the end?"

"No no, I meant my cousin!"

"Kuh, don't just be adding an exclamation mark like that, you bastard."

"But I really meant to say ! though!"

"You used it twice! Learn some restraint."

"Enough!" Kunieda said in annoyance. Then she turned a glare at Furuichi. "If you don't want to talk about it, it's fine. But you should really discuss these things with Oga first. There have been things going on lately that's caught our interest."

"Things?" Furuichi asked.

"Yesterday somebody approached me with some offer, I naturally refused, however there has been talk of some people around the school receiving the same offer. I'm worried some fool might take them up on the offer." Furuichi's face went grim even before he realised and unbeknownst to him, both Nene and Kunieda were surprised by the agitated lines on his face.

"I see, I'll leave right away," Furuichi said and immediately took off running towards the rooftop. If that was the case, then it was only natural that Furuichi sped up his search for Oga. If the enemy was actively making deals with these stupid yet somehow strong individuals of Ishiyama, then obviously Furuichi was going to be worried. Especially with Oga being as dense and idiotic as he can be at times.

When he reached the roof, all he saw was fire and destruction.

* * *

Kiba smiled easily as he entered the apartment shared between the lieutenant and his younger sister. He was greatly surprised to find that Xenovia was already there alongside the pinkette Demon that he had seen the last time he had been inside the apartment.

The girls were playing jenga with Honoka, who seemed to be quite troubled over the fact that the two other girls seem to be taking the game far more seriously than they should. When she turned to greet him, she immediately blushed and shyly turned away. 'Oh my,' he thought bitterly as hs smiled at her.

"Ah Kiba-san," Xenovia stated, standing up to greet him. Kiba waved it off, not wanting a comrade of the Gremory group to address him in such a manner. He did however feel bad for the lieutenant, as he was aware of his relationship with the other Knight. With Xenovia now moving in with Issei, there was no doubt that the lieutenant would be troubled over it.

"Xenovia-san," Kiba muttered, "I didn't know you were already here. I thought I'd come to stop by after helping Akeno move into Issei's house."

"Ah that reminds me. I should probably move in soon." Xenovia said as her face moved in sudden abashed realization. Honoka looked at the two of them in confusion.

"What do you mean 'move in'? Are you going somewhere?" Kiba wanted to move in to explain the situation to Honoka but Xenovia beat him to it.

"I'm moving into Issei's house from the Occult Research Club. Since I have nowhere to stay, this is very convenient for me," Xenovia said. Kiba smile grew increasingly troubled as he watched Honoka widened her eyes in obvious misunderstanding.

"Y-you're moving into a boy's house?!" Honoka cried out in shock. "But I thought you were Takayuki's l-l-l-l-l-l-lover!"

"Eh? But I am?" Xenovia said.

"No way, is this...is this polygamy?!" Honoka said in shock. Kiba quickly moved in to diffuse the situation. He clamped a steady hand over Xenovia's mouth and waved his free hand in front of him in a disabling gesture.

"Nothing like that. Xenovia just doesn't have a place to stay is all." Kiba said. Honoka frowned and looked at Kiba seriously for a moment.

"If that's the case, she could- she could," she stumbled slightly before reaffirming herself halfway, "She could stay with us!" Kiba was rather surprised by the invitation by himself so he couldn't stop Xenovia from entering the conversation again.

"Is it weird for his lover to live in a house with another man?" Xenovia asked. Kiba quickly slapped his hand over her mouth again, his face turning darkly polite as he scolded her mentally.

"Of course it is! No matter how you look at it, a girlfriend living with another man would make anyone go insane!"

"Is that so?!" Xenovia muttered inside Kiba's hand. The swordsman of the Gremory clan felt a mounting headache in the back of his mind and quietly let go of Xenovia. Finally he smiled at Honoka.

"I see my assistance isn't needed. I only checked up to see whether or not you had your lunch, and such I had brought with me some food I cooked myself," he said, gesturing to the bag hanging on his arms. All three girls turned to him with glints in their eyes, obviously excited at the prospect of free food. Kiba smiled slightly and politely handed it to Honoka as Lamia and Xenovia dutifully worked to clear out the jenga pieces.

Quietly Kiba sat himself down by the kitchen counter and watched as all three girls started placing the food on the table. He sighed and watched them eat. In some ways, he also owed Lieutenant an apology for his behaviour in the incident involving the Holy Swords. When he had seen the mangled body of the lieutenant after the fight with Kokabiel, he had been greatly worried. As he owed Issei thanks for his efforts in keeping him connected to his old and new comrades, so too did Kiba owed Furuichi thanks, for at least risking life and limb for his master and assisting them against the magicians. He was a comrade of any sort. Where those in the Gremory were family, the lieutenant was a soldier that Kiba could understand and depend in, if the need arises.

And so Kiba sat and watched as the girls ate and talked idly with each other. Are are~ What a nice group of girls. Though the siscon was worrying, Kiba thought it was a nice parallel to Issei.

Thinking about Issei, Kiba wondered if he was willing to spar with him one of these days. One day, Kiba thought, he would like to fight with Issei evenly in a fair fight and see which one of them was stronger.

"It tastes good!" Lamia cried as she savoured the taste of the food.

"It's not bad at all," Xenovia said as she dug into the food.

"Seriously he's an ikeman!" Honoka exclaimed.

Kiba smiled politely and merely waited by the counter, taking a small plate for himself to remain polite.

* * *

Furuichi bit back a curse as fire erupted all around him and he stumbled backwards, his hands gripping the tonfa and knife as he took a defensive stance. From what he could see Kankuro and Oga were standing in the middle of the rooftop, their hands in their pockets as they glared at a flashy dude with a spear in his hand. Next to him was another person that reminded Furuichi greatly of Kiba except with white hair. They were saying something to both Kankuro and Oga but Furuichi was out of earshot.

Regardless he could tell what was going on just from the look of it. Those two people were trying to get Kankuro and Oga to join their faction, and naturally, the two bull-headed delinquents would decline.

"So there was another interesting individual there," the spear wielding person said as he extended a hand out towards Furuichi. "This school sure is a treasure trove of people with Sacred Gears, and plenty of people willing to follow me into battle. Though, they truly stretch the meaning of a Hero. Regardless of the fact that you're fighting on the other side, I am more than willing to extend the same offer to you as I've extended to these two."

"Oh, Furuichi's here," Oga said, his face looking as dumb as the last time he'd saw him.

"Dah!" Beelze agreed from behind Oga's back.

"Oh it's you," Kankuro stated.

Please, can the three of you focus on the person that looks ready to kill you?!

"While your Sacred Gear is troublesome, it would be interesting to see how such an ability would fare against the Devils and Demons. The Hero Faction has plenty of people who can match you in strength, in you may still use the Demons you've contracted, provided you subjugate them under your will," the man said as he extended a hand out. "We of the Hero Faction fight for one purpose. To eliminate the evil beings that have plagued the world and protect the human race. Wouldn't you think it to be a noble cause of justice?"

It sounded less like justice and more like extermination. The type of policy he was suggesting was something that Furuichi never thought he'd tread, and in fact, couldn't find himself to tread if for the very fact that he would be condemning the very life he'd live until now. To take an entire group of people and push them onto one side of the life was so very easy, and in some cases, so very right, but those were exception not the rule. What that person was saying was a prosecution on a species scale, an on entire groups scale simply because they weren't human.

Furuichi called bullshit. The Devils and Demons may not have been human, but they were human enough. It was so easy to forget that they were Devils or Demons in the first place. And the life Furuichi had lived. He may have called the stupid apes, mocked and criticized them, but the delinquents of Ishiyama were no less human than the next. They may not be wholesome but they weren't 'evil' either. While Oga was decided to be the contractor to Beelzebub's son because of his cruel nature, that didn't make Oga evil, and Furuichi knew that to be the truth.

If Furuichi went with that man, then he'd be the world's greatest hypocrite. He'd found friends among the rabble of society's worst, against the monsters beyond the shrouded wool eyes of mankind, and for him to step to that side for something as silly as 'noble cause' was laughable. He would be condemning himself.

"Eat shit and die," Furuichi replied, surprising Oga over his steely response. But before Furuichi was to explain, Oga had already assumed a fighting posture and gave Furuichi a look from the corner of his eyes.

 _Where were you?_ It said. _There's no way a Hentai Convention lasted a week_. Ironically that was when his face became the fiercest.

 _I was dealing with things_. Furuichi replied back, his face turning intimidating, expressing through his facial expression how serious he was being.

 _What are the two of you talking about?_ Kankuro stated as he gave them all a disbelieving look. For the most part, both Oga and Furuichi gave Kankuro a shocked look.

 _You can understand us_? They said together.

A large question mark appeared on Kankuro's face and he quickly amended. "Only a little bit," he said.

 _Ohhhhh_.

"Cao Cao their doing something funny right now," the sword wielding person next to the spear wielding person said.

"Indeed they are Siegfried. You deal with the lieutenant, I'll deal with these two." Cao Cao said as he nodded to both Kankuro and Oga.

"Do you really think you can?" Kankuro said with a fierce grin. Oga smiled his demonic grin and fell into a loose stance. Furuichi was about to warn them but then felt it unnecessary. Regardless, the fight was going to happen, and whether they knew or not they were fighting people from the Khaos Brigade would be irrelevant.

Both Oga and Kankuro opened up with their strongest attacks, Kankuro with Red Bullet and Oga with Zebul Blast. A blinding white light filled his vision but he still had enough of his instincts to dodge Siegfried's strike for his neck.

He stumbled backwards and blocked a strike from the demonic sword in his grasp. The next strike came around and Furuichi brought his elbow down on the flat end of the blade enough for it slant just past his thigh.

"Not bad!" Siegfried complimented as he pushed Furuichi away from both Kankuro and Oga, separating him from being able to do assist the both of them. Furuichi gritted his teeth and parried another strike from the swordsman. Despite Furuichi's still intermediary skill with weapons and fighting in general, he could tell that Siegfried was holding back against him. Most likely not wanting to go overkill and reveal his abilities in broad daylight, as well as to maintain the chance that Furuichi would defect to their side. "Come on show me what you've got."

Mild Soul convergence was a little bit out of the picture. Furuichi still didn't know how to properly initiate it, but it most probably involved him stretching two parts of his soul simultaneously, a feat that Furuichi didn't have enough skill in to do in the heat of battle. However, he still reached inside his soul and managed to bring out enough of the Youkai inside him to give him the ability to use Senjutsu.

Furuichi jumped back and landed a few feet away from Siegfried. Furuichi could feel the Senjutsu energy filling him up, reinforcing his body and strength, but the malice of the world tinged the edges of his vision. However, the only thought in Furuichi's mind was 'When I get back, I'll have to learn how to master this power.' Furuichi was Vessel, more than that he was a unique breed of them. In a way one might call him privileged. In a way some might call him spoiled.

But Furuichi understood that natural abilities only went so far. Exposed to those that had natural abilities to begin with, Oga, Toujou, and the rest of the delinquents, he'd come to learn that even natural strength needed to be bolstered to contend with adversaries. There were always those stronger than him after all. That was the truest fact in Furuichi's life. He would be damned if he let it stay that way. Literally.

"Well then, I'll go first." Siegfried moved forward and Furuichi, enhanced by Senjutsu, caught the blade and extended a blast of Ki at Siegfried from his other hand. "You're quite skilled at using Senjutsu." He complimented.

Was he? He only moved in the way that it felt most natural to him. Really his Vessel abilities were almost a cheat. Almost, because, "Even so you're still inefficient at redirecting the energy." and that was the kicker. He had skills, but they weren't perfect skills.

Furuichi moved forward and attacked with this tonfa, the weapon with the longest reach, and tried to swat Siegfried's sword away to move in with his knife. But the swordsman easily deflected it and moved in to quickly cut Furuichi's side. Predicting this, Furuichi had retreated until he reached the railing surrounding the rooftop and the sword got stuck in the bars of the metal fence. Realising his chance, Furuichi pressed the heel of his show against the flat end of the blade, locking it in place in between the face, and made a quick swipe with his knife hand at Siegfried's face.

The swordsman ducked underneath the strike but Furuichi thought as much as well and flowed with his arm's movement to push himself up and over the sword, landing opposite the blade and driving it into the concrete. A large blast of energy was released, ripping the fence apart and sending a large gash onto the grounds of Ishiyama School.

"Did you think something like that would stop me?" Siegfried asked with a bloodthirsty smile and swung his blade in a wider arc. Furucihi barely managed to dodge in time but his tonfa was cut cleanly in two by the precision strike. Now useless Furuichi dropped it and readied his knife in a reverse hand grip.

Siegfried surged in again, this time swinging diagonally to strike at his right shoulder. Furuichi positioned himself to dodge the attack, but at the last minute, Siegfried redirected the direction of his attack and managed to cut a deep gash into Furuichi's side. With a strangled cry of pain, Furuichi spun in place and managed to land an elbow strike up against Siegfried's chest.

The swordsman took it in stride though and kicked at Furuichi's leg. The Senjutsu kept his stance strong, and Furuichi performed an untrained palm thrust loaded with Ki energy that sent Siegfried sliding backwards a few feet away from him. The two combatants then crouched again into a combative stance, staring at each other with deathly calm. But in Furuichi's case he was breathing heavily.

"You're not bad. Easily Middle-Class Devil in endurance alone," Siegfried commented. Furuichi smiled. Between all the things that happened in his life, it was a given that Furuichi would become incredibly durable. "But I'm a descendant of Siegfried himself, you can't possibly hope to compare to me." He reached a hand out, just like Cao Cao had. "In a way you're still like us. You're a comrade. So why don't you join us?"

Furuichi dropped lower to the ground. "Sorry but I think my side is stronger than yours." Siegfried had a brief look of confusion but then jumped back as a large gulf of fire threatened to burn him to a crisp.

"Mammon huh," Siegfried murmured. Kankuro was staring at Siegfried with a glare but no matter how you looked at it, even he was sporting some dangerous wounds. Not the kind you'd find in a schoolyard brawl, but large gashes, a broken arm, and a bruised pride.

Kankuro spit out a glob of blood but that was the last of his strength and he quickly crumpled to his knees, unable to move or react to the situation. Furuichi grimaced at him, and was prepared to return to the fight when the entrance to the rooftop was busted open.

"What's going on here!" Kunieda's loud voice vibrated down the length of the roof and Siegfried turned his eyes to stare at Kunieda. His eyes in particular darted down to Kunieda's wooden sword.

"A sword user?" Siegfried said, and if Furuichi was a betting man, he'd put his money that the emotion his was expressing was joy.

"I won't ask again," Kunieda said with narrowed eyes.

"Then I'm guessing I'll be your opponent," Siegfried said and turned his blade towards her,

"Sis!" Nene cried out behind her and moved forward to shield Kunieda with her body. Then Siegfried surged forward, fully intending to kill Nene to get to his true opponent. But Kunieda had moved around Nene and blocked the strike against Siegfried's sword.

"Ah, a wooden sword contending against my Gram?" Siegfried said, a weird mixture of shock and euphoria in his eyes. "My what an interesting woman you are. How about it? Why don't you ditch the kiddy gloves and fight me for real?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kunieda stated, "But I don't need to get serious with the likes of you." Siegfried recoiled a little bit at that and laughed happily, pushing Kunieda back with a shove of his sword and taking a ready stance.

Furuichi was about to rush in and help her but Oga slammed into him, causing the both of them to land on the ground in crumpled heap. Furuichi ended up taking the brunt of the fall and allowed Oga to flip back onto his feet without any problems. But when the white-haired teen looked up at his friend, he realised that he was covered in horrible wounds, with blood flowing freely from a cut on his forehead. "Oga?!"

But the Boss of Ishiyama only spit out a glob of blood and grinned fiercely at Cao Cao, who seemed to be completely fine and undamaged. "It tickles," Oga said as he wiped the blood off his mouth. Furuichi turned a glare at Cao Cao and pulled himself up onto his feet.

He grabbed at his right arm thoughtfully and sighed. He had never used it consciously before in a fight, not even back before the whole mess at Kuoh, just relying on the strength of the PIllars. But right now, against these odds and with the situation back at the Northern Fortress being as it is. "Oga I'll be borrowing some power from you." Furuichi said as he pulled his sleeve back to reveal the King's crest. Since the Pillars had revoked their allegiance to Oga after the battle with Satan, Furuichi's mark burned bright with a zero on it. Even though Furuichi had joined his Court so late, it was only natural that he was awarded a position higher than Kanzaki.

That was just how it was. Furuichi never needed to swear allegiance, it just always was.

"What are you saying now you douche," Oga said, but the bloodthirsty grin on his face was all that was needed to be said. "Let's tear that bastard a new one!"

 **Regardless with how you look at it Cao Cao's skills are direct counters against Oga's mindless brute force techniques. With Daddy Switch, Oga could probably overpower Cao Cao, but if Cao Cao had his Balance Breaker, the chances favor Cao Cao more. Of course this is when Cao Cao doesn't have his Balance Breakers, so as such it's a toss up.**

 **I think this would mark a chance in Furuichi as a character. From this point on, I plan on having Furuichi undergo some much needed training time to finally be able to use his abilities and stop using random power ups in the middle of battle to muddle through. The phrase 'but it was enough' has been used too much already and it's time for Furuichi to say 'Of course it was more than enough.'**

 **Also about Kunieda's wooden sword holding up against Gram, I'd imagined the black techs gave the sword an added durability, as well as, since Gram is a Demonic Sword, it's power against other Demonic Entities isn't as potent.**

 **Also, where the fuck is Pierre in all this?**

 **Btw, in my story Kunieda, Kanzaki, Himekawa and Toujou still have their King's Crest, but all others have been annulled since they were exceptions to circumstance.**


	18. Chapter 18

Cao Cao twirled his spear as he stared at both the Demon Prince's contractor and the Pillar Lieutenant he had kept his eyes on. Both of them were exuding a tremendous amount of killing intent, enough that Cao Cao couldn't help the bloodthirsty smile that spread across his face. Cao Cao brought his spear around and held it across his hip, preparing himself for a two on one battle.

The first to attack was Oga, who launched a quicker blast of demonic energy at Cao Cao. The master spearman cut the blast in half, his spear more than capable of defeating it with barely any effort. He felt a displacement of air beside him and was able to bring the butt of his spear around to block the attack from the Lieutenant, who seemed to be drenched in ki energy. A fairly recent ability, if Cao Cao remembered correctly.

He retracted his spear until it was no longer than a dagger and twirled it in his hand until the tip pointed towards Furuichi's heart. Then he extended and the Lieutenant was just barely able to bring his knife up to parry the strike. Cao Cao felt brief exhilaration at the act, happy to know that the Lieutenant had some skill on his own. To further test it, he pushed himself forward into Furuichi's comfort zone and sent a reeling punch for the Lieutenant's solar plexus.

To his surprise, the Lieutenant decided to tank the hit. Cao Cao could feel bone break and hiss at his attack, but the Lieutenant had braced himself and his legs barely budged from the force of the hit. The Human Pillars hands gripped around Cao Cao's arm and held him in place with a burst of ki energy.

A painful punch was slammed against Cao Cao's face, nearly splitting his cheek from the force of the attack, and Cao Cao spluttered back from the hit, yanking his spear out of Furuichi's hand, and bringing his spear up to block the next hit. When the spear hit Oga's hand, it wasn't the sound of hard wood against flesh, rather there was a loud sound, as though they were fighting with swords rather than fists. The difference between Oga and the Lieutenant was as clear as night and day to Cao Cao's eyes now that he had the pleasure of short bout between both of them.

The Lieutenant's fighting style was an amalgamation of different styles, each taken, adapted, and assimilated to suit him. It was easy to understand. All of his stances always seem to be missing an integral part, a core. Sometimes it seemed as though even the Lieutenant didn't know the stance he was using. But then he would move, sometimes it looked like there was a leg off put, sometimes it didn't seem like he was putting as much power in a punch, not enough speed in a dodge, but then he used tactics and intuition in addition to his not-so-perfect martial arts to create a blend that messed with the nerves of his opponents.

It was probably what had caused Siegfried to be so cautious around the Lieutenant. Looking at him, you would think you were looking at an amateur, but surprisingly, he was able to make use of those - most likely deliberate - faults in order surprise and play with an opponent's fighting ability. There was just no way to get a read on him. It fit with his image as the General Furuichi, Oga's no. 2 yet the weakest weakling in Ishiyama. He wasn't like the ruffians in the school. He couldn't be, considering he claimed loyalty to the Beelzebub's sons contractor.

Oga on the other hand was a natural born fighter. A brawler, that was the only way to describe the way he fought. But Cao Cao wasn't so vain as too dismiss brawling as an undisciplined and amateurish fighting style. All martial arts can be polished enough given time. Oga had dedicated that time it seemed. His movements were instinctual, his swings were close and full of power, his stance was easy yet guarded, and he was attentive. Everything on the battlefield was within his awareness. A natural born fighter.

Weakness and deviousness, coupled with strength and straightforwardness. What a deadly combo. Cao Cao smiled, satisfied. "There are monsters out there far stronger than your are now," Cao Cao said, his charisma bleeding through his voice as he parried another strike from Oga. "These monsters stand in the way of all humanity. It is our duty to eradicate them, as the gifted few among humanity."

"Stop talking!" Oga replied, his voice dark. Cao Cao recognised that it was less anger at what he was implying, and more annoyance at the fact he wasn't taking the fight seriously. To a natural fighter like Oga, that was probably the greatest insult. Cao Cao reveled in it for a while and then pressed his assault.

It changed quickly, now Cao Cao was pressing the attack while Oga was defending. Every time Cao Cao spear came close to a lethal mark, Oga's fist would come in to block or push the target away. His dodges were also perfect, capable of weaving in and out without much trouble with his speed and endurance.

Cao Cao felt his mouth open fearlessly and he added a little more strength to his attack. Blood was now coating the delinquents fists, but the man named Oga didn't relinquish the smile on his face. Truly demonic, Cao Cao thought. Perhaps it was wrong of him to come to this human. To be chosen by the Beelzebub's son was probably not for a good and wholesome reason.

"Ah I see, you're no good," Cao Cao admitted, though he felt a slight admiration at how well the delinquent was fending off his blows. "If I remember correctly, the intel says you don't like it when others join your fights. If that is the case then, Joan?" He asked. A female voice obliged and a female swordsman came crashing down, twirling her holy blades around in her hands and attacking Oga, who was now purely on the offensive. The intel had also shown that the delinquent had some sense of chivalry and would not attack a woman. How old-fashioned, Cao Cao thought.

"Cheap!" Oga said but he was too busy from dodging Joan's masterful sword techniques in order to re-engage with Cao Cao. The leader of the Hero Faction then dove in and blocked a strike from Furuichi, who was aiming for Joan's back with his knife.

"How unsportsmanlike!" Cao Cao commented and forced Furuichi's knife into the air. The Lieutenant made a loud noise of discomfort and came around to meet the next strike with his tonfa. This time Cao Cao didn't let up and went on a flurry of strikes, and the Lieutenant could only dodge most of them, as his strength was nowhere equal enough to meet Cao Cao's. Even his senjutsu skill was starting to wane underneath the intensity of his strikes.

"What about you?!" Cao Cao asked, staring at Furuichi's eyes as he spoke. Charisma wasn't just about having a nice voice and being confident. You needed to know when and where you had to push. How much you had to uproot from a person's life before you forcefully brought a forest to his doorstep. Sometimes gaining an ally meant making him uncomfortable.

"Your logic is fundamentally flawed," Furuichi stated, his earlier emotion somewhat suppressed, "and I don't play for that team!" The Lieutenant threw himself into Cao Cao's chest, which surprised the spearmaster. The attack was made without any respect to marital arts or proper battle tactics, so he was obviously caught off guard, but of course Cao Cao would be able to react regardless of the surprise. His speed was far greater than the Lieutenant's so he naturally dodged it while jumping backwards. He allowed an easy smile on his face, hoping to elicit some form of irritation into his enemy. The more emotion that was not being filtered out, the more likely it was that Cao Cao would be able to replace them with his own ambitions.

Imagine his surprise when the right side of his face was suddenly lit up with light, and he turned around to see the Beelzebub's seal right next to him. "Wha?" Was all he managed to say in his bewildered surprise as a blast of demonic energy slammed into his face. Having jumped beforehand, Cao Cao's stance wasn't nearly strong enough to have taken the hit, and as such he was sent blast backwards towards the fence. His back dented the fence, but his legs dug themselves into the concrete floor, stopping him from being blasted off the roof. He smiled to himself. There was now a blossoming bruise on his face, but now he could truly understand the deviousness of the Lieutenant.

From where she was, even Joan was surprised at seeing a line of Beelzebub seals accurately traveling in between her arm to strike at Cao Cao. When Oga took a battle stance, Joan had expected him to attack her and made a guard position, but instead he bypassed her and attacked Cao Cao. Rather, looking at how Furuichi's face as he nodded at Oga, it was revealed this was their plan all along.

"Devious," Cao Cao said. "Truly fitting." Furuichi gave Cao Cao a truly cool look, his eyes were narrow and his mouth set into a slight grim frown.

"I want to be sure, but were you the one that attacked Honoka?" Furuichi asked, and the way he said it brokered no argument. If Cao Cao lied, Furuichi would not tolerate it, and if Cao Cao told the truth, of which Cao Cao was certain the Lieutenant already knew anyway, then the Lieutenant would attack with the intention to kill him. Truly a man suited to be in a Demon Army. Calculating, deceptive, manipulative, and unyielding.

Cao Cao had been banking on the fact that the Lieutenant would ask that suggestion from him, but he expected to have admitted to that truth while overpowering him, then, wracked with intense emotions, Cao Cao would then work to shroud those emotions with honeyed words, and bring the Lieutenant to his side. But now, in the reverse, that would be stupid to try and achieve. Yet Cao Cao could understand that there was no helping it.

He stood up from the ground and pressed a hand against his bruise. "Indeed, I had ordered one of my subordinates with an interesting Sacred Gear to enter the memories of your sister and gather information about you. Though, the only thing of value we got out of it was information regarding the schools you attended, a close social group of friends, and the act that you've kept up at home and around the vicinity of this area." Truly a demonic person, to be able to keep up such a demeaning act and take such verbal abuse all in the sake of defeating his opponent. Unlike the battle thirsty warriors that were Siegfried, Vali, and the rest of his team, the Lieutenant was more slippery. A man willing to go to such lengths was someone not to be trifled with. Though there was a single predictable part of him.

Despite his sister's view of the Lieutenant being a mask - though Cao Cao wasn't foolish enough to discard all of his behaviour as a mask - one thing was made clear, even with additional information gathered from people from Saint Ishiyama and Ishiyama. Despite being weak, Furuichi was always close by Oga. It would be logical to presume, that even as strong as he was, Furuichi acted as Oga's No.2 explicitly. When he became contracted to the Pillars, only then did he take an active role in the battles, and had even shortly rebelled, before returning to Oga's side. This showed one single predictability in Furuichi's behaviour. Despite everything, Furuichi would always return to Oga's side.

Cao Cao spun his spear and then completely bypassed Furuichi to attack Oga personally. he extended his spear fully and Joan managed to get out of the way just in time for the tip of his spear to strike against Oga. Just as he expected Furuichi turned in shock at the sudden attack on Oga, but rather than move to help Oga, which Cao Cao had guessed to be the dominant member in their co-dependant relationship, Furuichi had instead twisted around and launched a burst of Ki energy towards Cao Cao.

It slammed directly against his chest, and as unexpected as the attack was, Cao Cao had been pushed back by the attack. "Huh?" Cao Cao wondered out loud. He turned back to Oga to see that the delinquent had managed to stop his spear by grabbing at it before it hit his stomach, and had such moved alongside the blade's extension without receiving any damage. "Is this what they say about true subordinates? Minions runaway, Servants rush to aid, but Companions fight on?"

Cao Cao smiled a bit bitterly as he now understood that both the Lieutenant and Furuichi were completely out of his ability to reel into his organization. He turned back to Siegfried to see that he had made quite a number on the swordswoman as well as on her companion, but he sported a gash on his head. "How very interesting. I have to give a school of delinquents credit. We should have fought more seriously but, ah, I wouldn't want to tip my hand to the Devils just yet."

"Siegfried, Joan, come to me," Cao Cao commanded. "It's been fun, Lieutenant," Cao Cao admitted. Even though he was leaving, make no mistake, Cao Cao could have killed them all if need be. But in doing so he would tip his hand too far. For now the preparation for his organization plan to increase the amount of Sacred Gear users who could use Balance Breaker was soon to come to fruition, but before then things had to come to play. It was fine if the Lieutenant reported this incident, however, if the enemy only continued to think of it as recruitment rather than what Cao Cao was really trying to achieve, then it was fine.

"Are you trying to run away you fucking coward?" Oga said in a taunt, though despite that he had already assumed a more leisurely stance, his hands in his pocket, and a rather bored expression on his face.

"Do I still have a chance at getting you to join my faction," Cao Cao asked.

"No way," Oga stated.

"Your logic is fundamentally flawed. If you consider it a mandate to eliminate beings and creatures naturally harmful to society, then there comes to the point where one questions what can be designed as natural anymore considering the Devils and Demons of the Underworld. When scrutinizing sapiency, it would be better to deem certain mental traits undesirable, rather than racial or physical traits," Furuichi calmly told him. "The way you see the world is in strawmans, and I wouldn't follow someone like that."

Sound and logical, was this perhaps the true Furuichi that Cao Cao hadn't seen within the memories inside Honoka? In his sister's mind, he had been seen as stupid, perverted, and lazy, but research had shown that he was cunning, crafty, and smart. A smart and diligent student who could enter university in foreign countries without problem with his test scores, and a manipulative tactician able to turn anything to his favor. Perhaps it would be easier to accept that he was both of these.

"Then, I beg all of you a fond farewell," he smiled bitterly at them, and was teleported away.

* * *

Furuichi watched him go and rubbed at his wrist. The fight was short, but in its briefness Furuichi recognised a truth. He was strong, incredible strong. As such Furuichi had to employ smart tricks to defeat him. He hadn't taken the fight between them seriously, and as such was confident that Joan and Siegfried could hold out against his friends. Furuichi had planned to use that to end him, but he hadn't expected for the man to retire so early in the fight.

Either he found something he wanted, or realised that it was unattainable. The bitter smile he gave made the impression that he wasn't dissatisfied at all, but rather disappointed. Furuichi turned back, he had planned to try and force the man, Cao Cao, into closer quarters with his allies and then use Oga's destructive capabilities to eliminate all of them in one go, but that hadn't happened.

He turned to look at Oga, who was staring at him with a blank face. "Oh, you're back," he said simply. Furuichi couldn't help but chuckle as he scratched his head at the simple greeting. "Did you finally get to have you domination fantasy at the hentai convention?" Oga said simply as though it was fact.

Furuichi panicked and nearly landed a chop on his head "Are you crazy! Stop saying stuff like that in public, I have no desire to be in BDSM play!" Despite Furuichi's plea, Oga keep a truly demonic smile on his face as he stared at Furuichi while chuckling to himself. "Who was that guy anyway? Have you seen him before?"

Oga shrugged his shoulders. "Nope," he answered simply. "But that guy was strong. I'll have to repay him later and beat the shit out of him," he said earnestly with a dangerous glint in his eye. Furuichi sweatdropped and was prepared to try and dissuade Oga from doing it like how he usually did, but for some reason, he couldn't muster up the strength as he usually could.

"Dah! Furu-chin!" Beelzebub greeted.

"Hey Beelze, you still calling me that?" Furuichi greeted plainly. Furuichi felt some sting on the injuries he had sustained and quietly pulled on his King's Crest, marke with the 0 on it displaying where Furuichi was marked on Oga's court, and felt the demonic energy filter into his body. "That guy really was strong though."

Oga watched Furuichi for a moment, then interjected plainly. "What was that about that guy hurting Honoka?" He said it plainly, but to Furuichi, he could tell that Oga was skirting the subject as deftly as he could. Furuichi contemplated not telling him, but Oga's impassive face continued to look at him, and all the walls he could build up around himself crumbled before they were created.

"That guy attacked Honoka a few days ago and stole some of her memories," Furuichi admitted truthfully.

"You serious?" Oga said in surprise. His eyes were wide and his mouth was left slightly open at the idea of someone attacking Honoka out of the blue. "What on earth did they steal her memories for. Are they lolI perverts or somethin'?"

"No," Furuichi stated, "It's more complicated than that. It's why I left Ishiyama for a while before that."

"Then you should explain it to us clearly and concisely," Kunieda interjected into the conversation. She was holding a limp arm as she strode towards the two of them, while Oomori quietly dealt with the knocked out Kankuro. "I asked you on the phone, but you evaded my questioning, I was naturally suspicious. I thought something was going on nearby so I had Chiaki and Yuka keep an eye out nearby. It's how I heard about the rumors in the first place."

"I see," Furuichi said, scratching his head. "I hadn't expected for the conflict to have spread to Ishiyama. Is this due to my meddling?" He was pretty sure that was a huge bald spot on the back of his head now with him scratching his head like this.

"Stop digging a trench in your skull and tell us what's going on," Oga demanded, with Beelze agreeing with a loud 'Dah!'.

"I'm transferring out of Ishiyama," Furuichi told them earnestly. All three of them showed surprise by that admission. Even Furuichi hadn't been expecting it. A part of him had thought that, in a way, he could continue his new duties at Kuoh in Ishiyama. But suddenly, after Oga told him to stop scratching the back of his head, he just couldn't help but let it out. "I'm going to Kuoh Academy not too far from here, so we can still meet Oga, though if I end up borrowing your Jump again, it'd be longer still until I give it back to you."

"Huh? No way, I'm not giving you my Jump anymore if that's the case," Oga replied heatedly. Kunieda, annoyed with where the conversation suddenly snowballed into, slapped Oga in the back of his head.

"Wait, wait. What about exchanging schools?" Kunieda said. "You're a second year, and the year's already started. Do you know how hard it would be to exchange from a public school to a private school?"

Truth be told, Furuichi expected that Gremory-sama would have that handled and taken cared of, If not, then Behemoth would find a way. Furuichi scored almost full marks for whenever they got tests in Saint Ishiyama, and had borrowed Kazuya's books from Saint Ishiyama to study. Furuichi didn't think Kuoh Academy's curriculum was any harder than that.

"The preparations are already made and I've always been good at studying," Furuichi admitted. The Lieutenant looked at his feet and sighed. There was a lingering feeling of guilt inside Furuichi, as though he was abandoning them, and suddenly Furuichi was filled with doubt. Why exactly had he said he wanted to go to Kuoh anyway.

"No wait. This is crazy. Oga talk some sense into him," Kunieda told him.

Oga looked at Furuichi square in the eyes, and Furuichi did the same. Then his eyes trailed down to his King's Crest, then back up to his eyes. Finally Oga shrugged his shoulders. "Not my problem," he said nonchalantly.

Kunieda recoiled in shock, "But he's your friend, you can't seriously be saying that!'

"But I am though," Oga replied, bewildered by her response. Kunieda was about to say more but Furuichi grabbed her shoulder and shook his head. The leader of the Red Tails frowned in worry, confusion, and somehow understanding. The friendship between Furuichi and Oga had always been difficult to understand, but somehow, there was a whole new depth to it.

"He's right, sis," Nene interjected. "I'm honestly jealous of their relationship," Nene admitted. Kunieda bit her bottom lip but looked in between Furuichi and Oga to see that a silent conversation had been initiated between them.

 _Big boobs at Kuoh_ , Furuichi said.

 _Hooo,_ Oga said, feigning interest, but the disgust was plain in his face.

 _What's with that? Aren't you a hot blooded guy too? What's wrong? You're a teenager for god's sake!_ Furuichi ranted.

 _I'm battle horny_ , Oga said simply.

 _He admits it!_ Furuichi said in shock.

"Wait, you didn't explain who those people were yet?" Kunieda interjected.

Furuichi blinked and made a sound as though he just remembered that. "I forgot to mention it but I joined the Pillar Squad," Furuichi told them. "They gave me the rank of Lieutenant, and now I'm currently in the middle of a civil war between the Devil world and a terrorist organization known as Khaos Brigade."

There was silence that greeted him. Oga squinted his eyes at Furuichi and couldn't help but ask. "Did you get a uniform fetish while you were away?"

"It's not like that!" Furuichi shot back, annoyed and agitated. "It just happened. I thought it would be something simple, just a recon mission! But then it spiralled out of control and now I'm here. I have no idea why, it's just how it is."

"You've changed," Kunieda suddenly cut in. Both Oga and Furuichi turned to look at Kunieda as she scrutinized Furuichi's face. "I've been thinking about it, but ever since you had those tissues, you've changed. During our Return to Ishiyama arc, you were a lot calmer and more collected, and you showed off your brain more. You really were like a polar opposite to Oga, but now, you look a lot like a soldier."

"A callous perverted soldier on one hand and a daddy obsessed wild animal on the other," Nene said with a sweatdrop. Furuichi only chuckled at that, as he couldn't fault her conclusion because he was actually perverted.

"No way, he's still the same douche Furuichi," Oga said seriously. Kunieda and Nene both sweatdropped at his casual remark of how Furuichi was still the same. But for the person himself, he understood a fundamental part of Oga enough to know what exactly he meant. "Hey, if you're going to a fancy Academy, bring me stuff from their vending machines."

"What for?" Furuichi asked.

"Like that rich school where they brought out the food for you when you press on one of the tiles. Bring me steak," Oga told him.

"What are you crazy? No way! That school wasn't normal to begin with! It was weird! Kuoh is perfectly normal!"

"Enough!" Kunieda said, "Now who were those people?"

"Members of the Hero Faction," Pierre said as he descended down onto the rooftop. All of them turned to the magician, with only Nene looking at him warily while both Furuichi and Kunieda gave him intense looks. Oga began picking his nose with his pinky finger.

"And where exactly were you?" Furuichi asked, glaring at the man in open suspicion and anger. "If you didn't know we were just in a fight for our lives."

"Who's the frenchy?" Oga asked as he pointed a finger at Pierre.

"I am Pierre Everhart," the mercenary greeted with a flourish, "and to answer your question, I was doing my job Lieutenant. You asked me to keep an eye out on the sky, and I did, but those people you were fighting had enacted a barrier preventing me from assisting you in the fight."

Furuichi scrutinized him for a moment, then grudgingly accepted that he couldn't see a lie in him. Even so, he couldn't bring himself to let the suspicion go without proper proof. "Then, do you have anything good to report?"

"Do you know the Kanzaki family?" Both Furuichi and Kunieda looked at each other for a moment and Oga butted in by grabbing Furuichi's face.

"No, really. Who is this fool?"

"He's a magician," Furuichi said as he pushed Oga away. "He does magic and stuff, like a spellmaster, 'cept he doesn't use demon contracts."

"That's not entirely accurate but for the most part yes, that's me." Furuichi shook his head and pointed a finger at Pierre.

"That's not the point of the matter now, what about the Kanzaki family?" Furuichi asked. Pierre scratched the back of his neck and sighed, as though he was reluctant to give the information away.

"Things like this usually cost upwards to a quarter million where I come from," he muttered quietly to himself. "Listen, Devils, Demons, Vampires, Youkais, they all exist in the human world right?" He got a nod from Furuichi, but hesitant looks from the girls. Oga just kept his face neutral. "At times, it's difficult to maintain secrecy to an optimum level. Even the Angels have problems regarding that venture. As such, a lot of times, they employ humans in order to act on their behalf on the human world. Magicians are one such people, mercenaries, human gangs and organizations, etc. The Kanzaki family is a Yakuza family with ties to the Paimon family. The territory in and around this area is managed by the family, and as an associate house, the Kanzaki's manage the area from outside human interference. Mostly though, they just keep the riffraff of humans away from the Devil territory. It's too much to ask mobsters to fight off Devils after all."

"I had no idea. But wait, then how come Kanzaki didn't seem like he knew anything at all about the Devils beforehand when he met Oga and us?" Furuichi asked.

"Information regarding Devils is still highly compartmentalized. The one you're referring to probably hasn't inherited the family yet and hasn't been made aware of the Devils. At the end of the day though, the KanzakI family would have little interaction with Devils and would probably work to gain a profit for the Devils through their business and keep any snooping misfits from interfering," Pierre explained. "However, despite that, the Kanzaki family should have their eyes and ears peeled for any demonic activity in the region. I was suggesting that we go ask them for their input."

Furuichi thought about it and nodded. He didn't understand what exactly kind of profit a gang could generate for a Devil in a high-class society. A part of him wondered if it was nefarious deeds, something like spreading pain and sorrow, was counted as profit, but shook that thought aside. At the very least he seemed to understand that the Underworld had a currency to begin with. The surveillance and protection seemed more fitting though as the Devils couldn't deal with humans out in the open unlike the Yakuza.

"I see, that makes sense," Furuichi muttered as he nodded his head. "Then, what about the Himekawa family? Are they related to Devils."

"Himekawa?" Pierre murmured, "I heard their name in the grapevine, but I don't think it's related to Devils. Maybe Vampire or Werewolf? I wouldn't be all too sure on that."

Furuichi sighed and waved it away. If he didn't know then it couldn't be helped. He turned around to look at his companion and wasn't surprised to see their flabbergasted expression. Both Oomori and Kunieda were staring at Pierre as though he had grown a second head, while Oga was making idle chit chat with Baby Beel.

"I came back to Ishiyama because I was worried about what you told me," Furuichi told Kunieda seriously, knocking her out of her reverie. "When you told me about strange people around, I thought some enemy of the Khaos Brigade came here snooping around because of me. However...I'm still planning on exchanging schools to Kuoh, for now at least." To Furuichi, the last part of his sentence sounded weak and unsure.

Kunieda was silent for a moment then she sighed. "It doesn't matter. What you do on your own time is your own business." At the end of the day, Kunieda was still a delinquent, she also understood that the matter of an individual was his own business. "However, if that were the case, you should have warned us about it as well." Despite that, Kunieda was also more group minded than the other mindless apes.

Furuichi bowed his head in apology. "I understand. I should have informed you of the matter on the phone beforehand. However, I had business to attend to." Kunieda frowned but sighed again and nodded her head.

"I'm studying for the college entrance exams right now, but if this is how it is, I'll have Chiaka and Yuka gather Red Tails and have them on high alert," Kunieda muttered. "It's a good thing they all had training with papa beforehand. That swordsman was really tough." Kunieda turned around and stalked away into the building.

Oomori stayed before for a few moments and gave Furuichi a look but the Lieutenant wasn't paying attention to her. Even though he was wearing the Ishiyama school clothes, even though he was in Ishiyama, even though he was beside Oga, there was no denying that the old Furuichi had changed. He stared directly at Pierre and continued to speak, completely oblivious to her staring but aware of his surroundings nonetheless. "Like a soldier," she muttered and went to follow Kunieda.

"Hey you stayin' or what?" Oga asked as he leaned up against the fence. "Hilda's been missing you, you hear? Something about cold shivers up her body knowing you thinking about her without her close by to pound you to bits."

Furuichi sweatdropped and actually felt terrified at the idea. "Nah, since I'm moving to Kuoh, my attendance record in Ishiyama isn't all that important anymore. I'll be heading to Kanzaki's household."

"You going there in the Pillar getup?" Oga asked.

"Are you serious?! No way! Kanzaki would probably beat me up if I do that!" Furuichi exclaimed. "No, going in my Ishiyama uniform would be fine."

"Hooo," Oga said. "Aight, I ain't comin' along. This has nothing to do with me." Furuichi smiled at Oga, and waved his hand disinterestedly.

"Wasn't going to ask you anyway," Furuichi said.

 _It's different_ _now,_ the gesture said but both Oga and Furuichi didn't seem to realise it. Oga always knew Furuichi was strong and Furuichi followed Oga because he wanted to, because it pissed him off seeing him fight alone. Oga wasn't alone anymore and Furuichi was now stronger than before, but still it was the same.

"You still owe me my Jump," Oga stated.

"Remind me later," Furuichi told him.

"Yeah yeah," Oga waved it away and chewed on some bread as Furuichi jumped off the roof alongside Pierre.

"Ugh," Kankuro muttered as he rose from the ground, "What hit me?"

Oga snorted.

* * *

Pierre knocked on the door to the Kanzaki family household while Furuichi hung back with his arms crossed across his chest. He had never been to Kanzaki household before, so this was whole new territory for him. As far as Yakuza mansions go, Kanzaki's house was like that you would see in an anime or film movie, one with a really high budget.

A disgruntled looking man in a suit answered the door and gave Pierre a once over. "What do you want?"

"I got business to do with your family head. Tell him people from the _other_ side are here to see him," Pierre told him. The man frowned but nodded his head after a few moments of staring down his face. "Chop chop errand boy."

The man frowned and disappeared past the gate. "I'm kinda wondering what exactly can humans do against supernatural creatures," Furuichi said as he stared at the door.

"Well, none of them are Magicians, nor are any of them packing Sacred Gears or skills like those of the Hero Faction. Even so, guns are just as effective as any other weapon, well depending on caliber and enchantment. Minor supernatural monsters and youkais can be dealt with by human gangs, plus anything valuable is worth something to Devils. Human money, artifacts, drugs, anything with value has value, so the gangs work in that department too, giving the Devils a share of the profits and whatever produce they make or find. Sometimes these gangs are given land owned by the Devils, so they work to become their own kingpin in the human world. Ever heard of Johnny Marcone from Dresden Files? Yea kinda like that except more subordinate-like."

"Huh," Furuichi muttered. He had no idea what Dresden Files was so he just nodded his head hesitantly. The person from before returned and ushered both Pierre and Furuichi in. When Furuichi was inside, he couldn't help but be shocked at the extravagance the interior of the house was. It was honestly amazing and - wait, wait was that Yuka.

"Futaba-chan," Yuka said as she was dragged along by a younger girl, "You can't just drag me out of school whenever you want." Despite what she was saying Yuka didn't seem to have any problem with being with the younger girl. However Kanzaki was trailing behind him, a disgruntled expression on his face as he complained about the noise.

 _A couple?_ Furuichi thought. _A married couple?_ He kept his eyes firmly planted on their backs as he entered the home behind Pierre. _What did I just watch?_ Furuichi trailed behind Pierre, but because of his complete confusion over watching Yuka and Kanzaki, he was able to walk through the hallways filled with Yakuza gangsters glaring at him without flinching or blinking. Actually the no blinking was probably because he had recognized that Hanazawa and Kanzaki had a thing for each other, but he didn't think they had a kid yet. _Huh, delinquents move fast._

They entered a room inside the mansion, and Furuichi sat himself down on a comfortable leather couch. An older potbelly man dressed in a kimono was seated opposite them, and he had a hard expression on his face. "A magic caster and a delinquent, what an interesting combination."

"I am Pierre Everhart, perhaps you have heard of mr from my exploits in the Middle East?" Pierre asked."My comrade here is a member of the 84th Pillar Squad, a Lieutenant, and is a certified Serpent Guard."

"A Pillar? Which of the Generals does he work directly under?" Mugen Kanzaki asked.

"I'm contracted to all the Pillars," Furuichi said, "I am technically their contractor, but I'm still confined by rank. It's better to say I work directly under Behemoth personally then, as he is the strongest person I am contracted with." Mugen began sweating when he heard that and Furuichi thought he should fix that but the smirk that Pierre made, the one that said they were his superiors, made it extremely difficult to try that. said as he

"We're here regarding the matter of certain Sacred Gear users traveling in and out of your territory." Pierre said as he tapped the coffee table between them. "Has the Paimon been notified of the movements?"

"I don't see why I have to discuss this information with an information broker of all people," Mugen said with narrowed eyes. Furuichi frowned and spied at Pierre from the corner of his eyes. It stood to reason that with his exceptional skill in gathering information, and his recent revelation of his involvement in the Middles East, that he would be an information broker. Despite this, the confirmation of his suspicions only served to make him more guarded. "However, if the Pillar Lieutenant like me to discuss the terms of a security threat with him, I have no reason to withhold information."

"At the very least the Paimon family should have been made aware of the recent movements of certain individuals in their territory," Furuichi said, trying to keep things civil.

"When the Pillars were operating in the area, and the Ishiyama students and Solomon Company began encroaching into the land, we informed the Paimon family directly, however, under orders by Beelzebub-sama, they informed us that we should let the events unfold. When we reported to them of this information, they told us to leave the Sacred Gear users be," Mugen explained.

"That's strange," Pierre muttered quietly, low enough for just Furuichi to hear. He raised an eyebrow for a moment but looked back at Mugen while nodding his head.

"Hmm, I see, was the order strange in any way?" Furuichi asked.

"Which one?" Mugen asked tentatively.

Furuichi raised tilted his head at the reply. "The one that's strange."

"Well, during the Ishiyama incident a year ago, the territory around us suffered alot of damage, and business was scared off due to the attacks. It lead to extreme loss in profits and damages across the territory. Even my organization was forced to borrow money from the Paimon-sama in order to stay afloat," Mugen stated. Furuichi frowned and narrowed his eyes.

"So the Paimon family lost a pretty profit?" Furuichi asked. Mugen frowned and he scrutinized Furuichi for a moment. Both Furuichi and Pierre assumed subordinate looks, as though they were gratefully awaiting for their leader to grace them with his words.

"I...believe that it isn't in my place to say," Mugen said, "However, our operations were greatly hindered by the actions of the Devil world and the Satans throughout the entire event." Furuichi sighed for a moment then nodded for himself. He then asked if perhaps the Sacred Gear users were impeding in their operations, and Mugen described about how the Sacred Gears had been dealing with their competitors, and talked about how their business had become stable after the previous incident. Furuichi then began talking about useless things, about when Kanzaki would become head of family, and about Kanzaki family operations.

Then he nodded and excused himself from the meeting, thanking Mugen for the work he performed in the human world on behalf of the Satans and left the Kanzaki household with Pierre following behind him.

"Pierre, were you aware of this?" Furuichi asked.

"I'm an information broker, I have certain thoughts on it. I was counter hired by Behemoth to betray the Khaos Brigade, but they locked up their information before to make sure I couldn't do that with them. Still though I had long ago known that there were traitors in the New Maou Faction," Pierre admitted. "The Paimon's were never that high in the hierarchy either, and the fact that the Maous pissed on them by letting their squabbling match mess up their territory is ample cause to betray."

Furuichi narrowed his eyes. "Pierre, how much was Khaos Brigade paying me?"

He shrugged, "The Magician Faction was paying me with magical artifacts that I could probably sell upwards to about a million and a half. Behemoth over me three million if I turncoat. He shaved the deal down to two point five though, and got an official pardon for my crimes in the Underworld." Furuichi's jaw nearly dropped. Pierre waved his hand in the air when he noticed Furuichi's expression. "I understand if you're still wary about me turning coat so easily with money, but considering the deal I was cut, and the wacko intentions of the remaining Khaos Brigade Factions, honestly, it's more profitable if I stick with the Devil side."

Furuichi frowned and slowly took a step back. "Well, it doesn't matter. I already informed Oga and Kunieda about my decision, and Kunieda will spread it out among our circle. But, since Toujou, Himekawa, and Kanzaki graduated, there really isn't anyone else." He sighed and shook his head. He knew that if he really did this, Furuichi was tantamount to rejecting who he was before completely. Now if he were to greet Chiaki and Yuka in the middle of the road, it wouldn't be as Creepichi or Mobichi. The Furuichi that was manifesting couldn't be taken off and on like a mask. It just couldn't be done. Like a fractured mirror, Furuichi just couldn't reflect what he had been anymore.

"Alright then. I guess that makes you more subordinate huh?"

"And what's make you say that?" Pierre asked dubiously.

"Because I said so."

 **I really didn't intend to make the interaction between Oga and Furuichi so weird and Yaoi. It was just really hard to write Oga's personality, and this entire fic has been driving home the point that Furuichi is determined to follow Oga. In my mind I think Furuichi drive to befriend Oga began encompassing his life, to the point of obsession. I mean, he had test scores that could have got him into St Ishiyama, I remember I time when he got like 90/100 for a test or something? Yet he still chose to follow Oga to Ishiyama. Despite the fact that Furuichi is incredibly weak he still chose to be with Oga, and despite the fact that Furuichi rebelled against Oga, it was more like Furuichi reconciling with his decision to remain with Oga inside the delinquent world; all the faults and everything within them, and expressing his anger and self-esteem to Oga finally. The only time he showed truth to his emotions, where he showed proper determination and showed his inner feelings, was when confronted with Oga.**

 **This is such a complex relationship that you kinda have to wonder about when you read the Beelzebub manga a second time. Especially with how FuruichI changes. Despite maintaining the status quo, he grew to have more of a presence, especially when in previous chapters he was more comic relief and a mob character. I really apologise if it came out awkward and stilted, but Oga is just so impassive when It comes to his emotions on a subject that don't correspond to fighting that I couldn't come up how to write for him.**

 **Also I had no idea that the guy who wrote Beelzebub was a disciple to the creator of Psyren, my favourite Manga to date. Like holy shit, I did not expect that. Also, in the last chapter there was a mistake on Furuichi's king's crest. I found out it was actually a zero on his hand rather than the six that I thought it should be. I guess this is more fitting. In the manga you couldn't really see the number all that well, so I had assumed that he would naturally be below the original group. Well, I had initially taught to give him zero too but thought it was too cheezy given how I've already choked down Furuichi's devotion to Oga down your throats too much as it is.**

 **I'll probably move on from that beaten down plot point from now on. It's time for Furuichi to be his own man. He's got a war to fight after all.**


	19. Chapter 19

Furuichi rolled up the sleeves of his uniform. His tie was loose around his neck and his tanned shirt was left unbuttoned and hanging free on his shoulders. Since coming back from Ishiyama and effectively saying his goodbyes to his friends, Furuichi had decided the change the way he dressed. The neat and clean way he dressed before was from a Furuichi who hadn't accepted himself as a Pillar, one who thought he would take off the uniform and return to Ishiyama in a fortnight. That Furuichi had no place in the war right now, nor was that Furuichi who he was now, so the new uniform was both a practicality in the new necessities of warfare, and also a way for Furuichi to show his commitment in the Pillar ranks.

It was kinda ironic. Vandalizing an organization's uniform in order to show your loyalty. But many of the Generals and Barons had expressed approval when they saw what Furuichi did, and since the peace conference, many of the Generals and some of the Barons had come to treat Furuichi as more of an equal, an Officer of the Pillar Division.

Ananta had even gifted him a small sword; it was the same size of a tanto, and was single edged with a pointed tip. Furuichi had gratefully accepted the gift, and was bemused to note that the new blade, **Aegeus** , didn't get in the way of his tonfas. He had readily accepted the gift into his arsenal of meager weapons.

Really, with how the war with the Old Maous was destined to play out, what can Furuichi dk but grow stronger in order to survive. He owed that to himself at least, to see the uniform through to its end.

Right now Furuichi was sitting in the courtyard of the Stronghold, idly fiddling with his new **Aegeus** blade as the various Pillars around him shuffled about and worked diligently to rebuild their Stronghold after the Cry Legion attack. The walls had been breached on one end, and the courtyard looked like a tornado had swept straight through it, demolishing everything in its wake and leaving behind rubble and dust.

He'd been informed that this was the site of a battle between Virtra and two high ranking members of the Cry Legion. If he remembered that silent swordswoman right, then they must have been tough opponents indeed.

Furuichi carefully glided his whetstone over the edge of his blade, sharpening it as best he could with what little he knew in the art. Since he came back from Ishiyama, Furuichi felt like a new man, a new person altogether from what he once was. Behemoth had given him new duties to carry out in Kuoh, that is to protect and assess the students of Kuoh, primarily the two heiress' and their peerage, and to assist in the efforts against the Khaos Brigade.

All things Furuichi would have done regardless. He wanted to get even on those guys who made Lamia cry, and he also wanted to stay with Xenovia and Honoka at that apartment. His home in Ishiyama will always be a place dear in his heart, but here, it was a new start, and he wasn't about to lose that.

He placed his whetstone on the bench beside him and admired his new blade in the light. **Aegeus**. It meant Protector. What kind of user did this blade once have to get a name like that. What kind of blade was it made to be to get a name like that? Chances are Furuichi won't ever know.

"But you're still mine," Furuichi whispered. Flipping the blade over.

"Affectionately talking to your weapons, Lieutenant? Never pegged you as the type." Furuichi glanced up at Pierre as he entered the foyer, the eyes of a pair of Pillar guards turning to his back suspiciously. Furuichi understood their concerns and gave Pierre some doubt in everything he did. The idea of a mercenary turning coat so easily was still disturbing to him.

"We all try out new things," Furuichi replied, gauging how his response was met. Pierre chuckled casually, his arms still crossed over his chest as he sat down next to Furuichi. The Lieutenant make some elbow room between him and the frenchmen, and continued to sharpen his blade. "Where were you?"

"Being grilled by the Pillars on what I know of the Paimon family. They're going to arrest the family and freeze all their assets." Pierre sighed and placed his ankle over his thigh. He casually began whistling, letting his tune carry over the Underworld wind as Furuichi continued to sharpen his sword. "Must feel good, to completely rid yourself of that persona and facade you had at Ishiyama. I would have found the whole thing torturous."

Furuichi felt the sweat pool on the back of his neck as the speed of his sharpening increased. Pierre still seemed to believe that Furuichi was putting on an act during his time in Ishiyama, and while Furuichi would like for that to be true, unfortunately, it wasn't. He contemplated whether he should reveal the secret to him but decided against it. Saying it outright would probably do nothing but make him reaffirm his belief in Furuichi anyway.

"Mhmm. Do you know who they are sending to deal with the Paimon's?" Furuichi asked. The Paimon family was a mole Furuichi had found on his own, and while he was slightly miffed that it had been handed to someone else, he wasn't jumping to be put in the frontline of something dangerous so soon after deciding to stay in the Pillars.

"The Pillar Barons Naga and Ananta should be the ones who will be apprehending the Paimon family," Pierre said. "I may or may not have acquired that information with less than savory methods though."

Furuichi arched an eyebrow and sheathed his blade onto his belt. "I don't want to know, but I will be reporting that little tidbit of information." The frenchman smiled sardonically at that. Furuichi felt some pity for him, but figured he should know where Furuichi stood on the line in the sand. "Tell me, do you know of anything else that may be suspicious in the other Nobles. At the very least, to the people in and around the Sitri and Gremory groups?"

"Not directly," Pierre admitted. "As you can imagine both groups have somewhat of a reputation since they have a dragon each, and they've caught the eye of interest from people even outside the Khaos Brigade. However, I can be relatively certain that the spies present in Kuoh Academy are minimal at best."

"Why's that?" Furuichi asked.

Pierre arched an eyebrow at him. "Even if they successfully infiltrated a spy into the ranks, what exactly kind of news is that spy going to garner inside a school?"

Furuichi blinked and realised abashedly that that was true. However, he didn't think he should rule out the idea of a spy or mole in Kuoh Academy completely. At the very least a spy could keep tabs on the Student Councils and the Gremory Peerages movements. Furuichi would rather be proven wrong and admit to being a fool, than being right and actually being a fool.

The Lieutenant turned to a runner that just entered the courtyard; sweat dripping down his face and gasping for breath. He glanced down either side of the foyer, before landing his eyes on Furuichi. The Lieutenant felt his uniform seize and he assumed an erect posture, his hands tucked neatly behind his back.

"Lieutenant Furuichi, a message from second-in-command Laymia," the soldier stated, snapping a salute. "His Lord Majesty, Ajuka Beelzebub, has arrived and requests your presence to the room as soon as you are able."

Furuichi could feel Pierre behind him tense up - in part as a side effect to the Ki energy he had taken into himself. He nodded to the runner, his head a bit shaky now that he knew he would meet with the father of baby Baelze; probably the number one cause as to why he was here.

"Y-yes. Very well. I will be there momentarily," Furuichi said in his most 'official' voice that he could muster. The runner nodded his head and quickly disappeared, running after some other person with news, no doubt. Furuichi said his goodbyes to Pierre and made the trip up towards the Officers quarters, where the Lord Beelzebub was surely waiting.

Even taking the shortest route he'd been taught, Furuichi still had to go through winding pathways and bleak corridors to reach it. As he walked he passed some of the Pillars he knew and exchanged quick greetings with them. But they could only spare some time, even Agiel was in a hurry, darting in with wave and a sharp toothed smile goodbye before dashing away again.

The Pillars were effectively out of peacetime mode, and were undergoing wartime operations to prepare for the Khaos Brigade. He hadn't even seen Alaindelon in a while, and last he heard the Axiom Rangers were performing missions on the border of the Underworld, dealing with Old Maou terrorist cells.

How much has his world changed, and how much has it stayed the same. At the very least, he could stay centered in that Ishiyama would never change.

He reached the door to the Officers Quarters, more specifically Behemoth's office. Breathing in deeply to steel his nerves, Furuichi rapped his knuckles against the doors. There was a beat of silence on the other end before the door swung open, revealing Behemoth, Hecadoth, Madame Iris, and a man Furuichi could only assume was Ajuka Beelzebub.

Except... _where did Baby Beelze got his green hair from?_ Ajuka Beelzebub had blonde hair. And weren't you supposed to be wearing a leotard? What is this? Did he just wear it for shits and giggles that one time.

The Beelzebub seemed to understand Furuichi's confusion, and smirked in amusement at him. "Lieutenant Furuichi. I hear you've shown exemplary service to not only Makai but to Sirzechs."

Furuichi felt his uniform tense up and turn him into a literal stone pillar. "I'm honored you remember me."

"I remember a boy who followed Oga like a lost puppy," Ajuka said with a charming smile. "I don't think I remember this soldier that stands before me." Furuichi felt his muscles lock as he wondered what the Beelzebub meant by that.

Madame Iris wheeled herself forward, past her husband, and stopped just in front of Furuichi. She then grabbed his wrist and carefully placed her hand over his knuckles with a smile on her face. "It's ok, you can relax."

Furuichi would have told her it was the uniform keeping him stiff but immediately he felt the weight on his shoulders slacken, and a breath of air left his lungs. Iris smiled in gratitude and patted his arm as she wheeled herself back.

"Lieutenant Furuichi," Behemoth began, coughing into his hands. "Furuichi-kun. You've been a...surprising addition to the Pillars. Truth be told, I was originally against you joining my organization."

"As was I," Ajuka stated. Furuichi raised an eyebrow at the Beelzebub, quietly blinded by the charming aura he radiated with by just standing there. The Maou smiled and fixed his hands into his pockets. "Not in so many words. I simply felt that you had no want nor need to be in the Pillars."

"It was by the grace of Madame Iris and Alaindelon's recommendation that we allowed your special circumstances," Behemoth started again, gesturing his hands to the Madame Iris who smiled warmly at Furuichi.

"I did not know that," Furuichi answered honestly. "But I still don't know why I'm here."

"They want to get to the point but they're too stubborn to get to it," Iris huffed. "They want to tell you, Furuichi, that you've become something of a symbol to the other Demons."

The Lieutenant felt his face pool into confusion and for a brief moment he contemplated the idea of turning around and running away. The look he gave off must have made the wrong impression, because Behemoth quickly move to amend Iris' brasher words.

"It is simply that, someone like you, an average human, was able to excel to the rank of an Officer to what had been an exclusively Makai Military Division. Due to that we have received a lot of publicity, and now with war in the horizon, that has done things to both help and hinder us."

"What he means," Hecadoth said right afterwards, crossing his arms in a way Furuichi had come to understand as a prelude to important information. "Is that you are a poster boy. The Underworld practices a fixed social position in its society, with importance placed on lineage and strength. However, due to the previous war, most of the Noble families have been exterminated, and the Devils that remain are mostly the survivors and their offspring. In the old society there was no way for a person to climb up the social ladder, but in this new era that is not so."

"Primarily because of my Evil Piece System," Ajuka cut in. He seemed fervent in explaining the effect his system had on Devil society, so Hecadoth shut his lip and turned to the Beelzebub with all the seriousness of a soldier reporting for a briefing. "What people tend to generalize about my System is that it is used in order to repopulate the Underworld. That is true, however, if that were the case, why then would I invent a repopulation method that only allows fifteen beings to be reincarnated at one time? And that some humans, varying on strength, can take up more than one piece? The Evil Piece System isn't just about numbers, it's also about cultivating strength from the weak and gaining new talents into Devil society."

Hecadoth took back the reins when Ajuka gestured for Hecadoth to continue after him. "Due to this, the new Devil society has a social ladder to climb. Everyone can become a Devil, provided they have the knowledge, etiquette, and strength to back it up."

"Can you cut to the point?" Furuichi asked exaggeratedly.

Hecadoth gave him an annoyed frown. "The point is, there are only three ways for a person to rank up. Rating games, contracting, and military accomplishments. Rating games are barred from commoners as they cannot have peerages and contracting is a near insurmountable method to rank up. Previously Military Accomplishments would be as well, however, since the Underworld has entered wartime-"

"The commoners want to join and make a name for themselves, so they can climb the social ladder?" Furuichi asked.

"It's not only that," Iris stated. She wheeled in close to Furuichi and looked at him in the eye. "You were a human once, the weakest of all the races. Sure there are heroes in humanity, but even those heroes blur the line of humanity and monster. You on the other end, was a pure human, even with your Vessel status. The fact that you managed to enter the realm of a low Mid-Class Devil even though you are human is astounding."

"Usually you would be presented with a title at having reached that high," Ajuka cut in, tossing his wife an extra tidbit. "Knight or Baron, but since you are a Pillar your rank is title enough."

"You're not just a symbol of people wanting to climb the social ladder, you're also a symbol for people who want to get stronger," Iris stated, a serious expression on her face.

Furuichi didn't understand what the hubbub was about, but he could feel the weight and intensity behind that stare and it all but forced him to nod solemnly to her words.

"The Pillars have received a large boost to their manpower," Behemoth said. "About one hundred European Devils have decided to officially join the Pillars, all of them from lower common families. All of them citing you as one of their reasons for picking the Pillars specifically."

"And it's good because we need the manpower, but it's bad because the Pillars wasn't organized to have such a large force under them?" Furuichi said as a guess. Well, apparently his guess was on the mark.

"The rank Lieutenant used to mean nothing more than subordinate to General, but now that our numbers have swelled, and I fully expect it to continue to do so, we must change that," Behemoth explained.

"The Pillars were originally an anti-terrorist and homeland security force for Makai. It would be hard to continue that enforcement with European Devils in its ranks," Furuichi stated.

"That is why I have switched the role of the Pillars. Now my private guards will have the temporary duty of maintaining Makai's domestic situation. The Pillars are now ranked under a Special Forces group, tasked in anti-Khaos Brigade and anti-Old Maou operations," Ajuka supplied helpfully. "They are now free to recruit anyone and everyone willing to join for wartime efforts against the Khaos Brigade."

"However the publicity has jeopardized the transparency of the Pillars," Furuichi surmised. "With the large amount of recruits, the chances of a spy entering our ranks is increasing. Doubly so, because of our increase in numbers, it would be easier for the enemy to monitor our movements."

"Very intuitive," Ajuka complimented. "I'm glad to see your intelligence hasn't disappeared."

Furuichi gave Ajuka a hesitant smile. His intelligence was one of the only redeemable aspects of Furuichi's person. He had no intention of losing that part of himself.

"That is why we plan on putting forward several dummy operations. As the Pillars were in charge of internal security in Makai, we have naturally received several requests and missions of varying levels. Usually we would hand out several of those missions to other private forces, however now...," Behemoth trailed off.

"Because of the new troops, you can take on a few dummy missions?" Furuichi wondered.

"Close but not quite," Hecadoth stated.

Furuichi tilted his head and tried to come up with a better plan in his head. If it was Himekawa, what would he do? "You'd send out several dummy missions, but attach high ranking Pillars on those missions to garner the attention of spies. Those missions would then be a trap to capture them. Thanks to the new manpower, missions that would need one high ranking Pillar can be supplemented by several lower rankers and a moderately ranked Pillar of sufficiently skill; am I getting this right?"

"More or less," Ajuka replied with a smile. "It's a relief for me to see that you have taken to your duties with all seriousness." The handsome man placed his hand onto Furuichi's shoulder, and tightened his grip a miniscule. "I never properly thanked you or Oga for the effort the both of you out in to save my marriage. Thank you," Ajuka stated. His smile had become more melancholic, regretful, and bemused as he said this. Furuichi hesitated, then nodded his head minutely.

"I was here only to give permission to Behemoth for an Operation he had in mind, as well to check up in you, but now that everything has been settled, I aim to be off. Iris will you be accompanying me?"

Iris shook her head. "I wish to stay, Dear. I believe I can be of use in the talks to come with the Lieutenant."

"Ah," Ajuka stated, his hands going towards his back. His expression had become tellingly blank, and the way the edge of his eyes wrinkled in displeasure made Furuichi's hair stand on end. "I apologise, Lieutenant, it seems no matter what, you are always doing me favours."

"I...," Furuichi fumbled, unsure of what to say. Ajuka smiled briefly and left the room, leaving Furuichi behind in that small room. He blinked after the Maou, wondering what that had been about, before shifting his shoulders and looking back at Behemoth, his face expectant and waiting. If there was something that needed to be said, then he would rather it be said now.

"What do you know of Asia Argento?" Iris asked him, a warm placating smile on her face. That was the kind of smile Furuichi equated to his mother's, whenever she had to tell him news she knew would upset him. Furuichi felt the warning signs, but bulldozed on; not wanting to prolong bad news anymore than he needed to.

"Only that she is part of Gremory-san's peerage...and that she is a nice girl. A bit naive if Xenovia's stories are to be taken at face value." He turned to everyone in the room with confusion written all over his face. "Why?"

"That is...not as much as I hoped for, but regardless, I shall explain it to you." Throughout Madame Iris' explanation, Furuichi noted how Behemoth and Hecadoth made it a point to pool their expressions into something blank. As far as Furuichi can _see_ it looked like they didn't care but he knew _making_ yourself not care sometimes meant you care too much. It may be in bad form to say this, but Furuichi wasn't all too surprised to find a soft side in Behemoth. In Hecadoth's case, Furuichi wondered why he seemed so disturb with Asia Argento's circumstances; as saddening and depressing as they were.

And that was a fact. Asia Argento's story was a sad piece of life, one that Furuichi had to sympathize with. It was saddening turn of events when an act of goodwill to a stranger - perhaps the truest and most righteous kind of act of all - caused her to become ostracized and labeled as a witch.

"That's terrible," Furuichi said honestly. A part of Furuichi understood wholeheartedly why Issei seemed to hold Asia on such a pedestal, and why he seemed to be so protective of her, wanting nothing but the best for her. If Furuichi had the pleasure of knowing Asia, then she too would go out of her way to do everything he could for her.

"Indeed," Iris said. "However...the truth of her circumstances turns her sad story into something more... _sickening_." There was a fire in Iris' eyes, one that spoke of revulsion and disgust. From the corner of his eyes, Furuichi could see Hecadoth wince.

Iris told him of Diodora Astaroth, the younger brother to Ajuka Beelzebub, and Furuichi's opinion of the Beelzebub almost hit rock bottom. He felt his lips turn down in disgust as he heard about what the man did to his victims. "This is...disgusting. How on Earth is this person able to walk away while doing these things?"

"Underworld laws...don't necessarily apply to humans. Since these things happened before they were reincarnated, and that they were former members of the Church, Diodora was technically not doing anything wrong," Behemoth told him.

Furuichi tightened his fist. "It doesn't change the fact that the younger brother of one of your leaders both psychologically and sexually abuse women for _kicks_." Behemoth's brow creased as he lowered his eyes. Hecadoth turned away, staring out the window. Madame Iris has a look of shame and regret, as well as disgust.

Furuichi gripped his head. He wasn't sure why he was getting worked up. He didn't know these women, and he didn't belong in the Underworld any more than when he was with Oga. There was no reason to get so righteous; the depravity of those women's' circumstances notwithstanding. But there was such a righteous fury in Furuichi that he couldn't not get angry...that he couldn't help but realise also came from shame and disappointment.

Furuichi was now a part of the Underworld whether he cared to admit it or not. With his Vessel status and the irreparable damage to his soul...he couldn't belong anywhere but the Underworld. It wasn't his home, but it was now part of his responsibility, and it was probably more attuned to his nature now, as having stepped into the dark world of the occult.

Those poor women, whoever they are, were victims to corruption and politics; and the machinations of a sick fuck. Furuichi could see the dots, could see the government cover ups, and could tell how damaging it would be to know the son of one of Maous partaking in such behaviour. How many people were aware. Did the Lucifer know? Serafall Leviathan? What about Asmodeus? Chances were Asmodeus would be the one to have ordered any coverups.

As a Pillar, Furuichi was now responsible for this deplorable incident; and was perhaps now being shown a side of Devil society he had expected. He had the superiority complex of a Vampire inside him, and he was just told of the righteous fury of the Angels that they would willingly expel a maiden doing an act of kindness, so he knew these things to be true in whichever society. But still...this whole thing was just _disgusting._

And by the looks of Behemoth and Hecadoth, the both of them were aware of it. "What's your part in this?" Furuichi asked Hecadoth.

The man looked down at Furuichi's feet. "I handled any information leaks and dealt with any...authorities investigating Diadora's actions. As a Pillar my actions were made to maintain the stability of Makai and the Underworld," Hecadoth stated, then sighed very loudly when Furuichi turned a sharp glare his way; eyes shining with an electric blue light. Furuichi couldn't tell then, but the Water Spirit and a Yokai inside him had reacted to his feelings of revulsion and righteousness, and was slightly influencing his body. "I didn't do anything to stop it, Lieutenant. My job was just to hide it. I...I didn't much care at first...I was doing my part for Lord Beelzebub. But those girls deserved better and I knew it all along."

"Hecadoth's demons - pardon the irony - are his own to carry and shoulder. We mustn't dwell on what has been done, only in how we can insure they could never happen again," Behemoth stated, his gravelly baritone voice echoing off the silent room.

Furuichi turned away and took a shaky breath in. He expelled his thoughts as quickly as they came and eased himself back into something resembling calm. He knew why they did it, he knew that sometimes bad things happen and you couldn't stop it. But for some reason this stung him bad.

Not even Ishiyama stood to such a low level, and the school that he hated was notched up in his rankings. Who was he kidding? Ishiyama was some of the best years of his life, even with all the apes. The Pillars, Underworld, it had the place to be the same, but Furuichi was realising that just as Ishiyama was dark and ill-boding, so too was this new world, and its scale only increased the gravity of the darkness around it.

Madame Iris reached forward and gripped Furuichi's wrist, warm and solid in the whirlwind of thoughts, confusion, and battle inside Furuichi's head. She looked up at him, her face set into a look he hadn't seen on her before. "I know how you feel. They were how I felt too. There was more to my running away than most realise. I did my best for those girls, but even I could have done more. We all could have done more. We can't take away their pain, or their scars, but we can offer them a reprieve. The chance to run away and decide what they need. Like you did for me."

Furuichi turned away. That wasn't how Furuichi was. Furuichi wasn't someone who went out of his way to help people. Who did the noble thing because it was what he should do. It wasn't that Furuichi was a coward, or that he was sinister. He just never had the strength or the authority.

But that wasn't him anymore. Furuichi now had strength, and not only that, but a reason to do what he did. He was now a Pillar, now an anti-Khaos Brigade unit. It was his duty to stop Diadora if he was an enemy of the Maous...and also to stop his peerage id they defended him. But those girls were victims too, people of the Underworld now who had been wronged. As a Pillar...as a _soldier_ it was also his duty to help them, to give them justice.

"I...I don't know Madame Iris," Furuichi said. His thoughts just couldn't connect.

"That's fine. You don't have to understand everything now. You're not alone Furuichi. You were always with Oga, why? Because you couldn't stand seeing him walking alone, couldn't you!" Madame Iris said with conviction. Furuichi squawked, wondering how she knew. She smiled. "I...can pay attention, and I understand. I understand how you feel and how you are. That's why I'm telling you, you don't need to be like this! You're not alone, you have the Pillars and all your friends. The more you worry for the world all at once, the more you lose yourself. When the time comes, face it with all you have with those around you. You are a Pillar, and a single Pillar can't hold up a palace by itself."

Madame Iris' words swam in Furuichi's mind. They were a small light in the sea of thoughts, one that his mind, confused as it was, latched onto and held close to himself. Despite that they didn't bring the clarity he hoped, instead they brought more doubt but she did clear his mind of depressing nonsense.

She was ultimately right. Furuichi was a piece in the larger puzzle, and he would be used when needed. It was up to Furuichi to make sure he fit and did what was right then. "Thank you, Iris-sama."

"Just call me Iris," she replied warmly.

Furuichi nodded. "Iris-san then." It would be too embarrassing calling the mother of baby Beelze Iris. He turned to Behemoth, and there was a tightened firmness to the old man's lip as he watched Furuichi. "It's alright Behemoth-san. I understand. I don't agree, but I understand. Now what is it you have to tell me?"

"Lord Aaron Paimon has had recent dealings with Diadora, and there is reason to believe that the Paimon patriarch has been informed of the Pillar's moving to apprehend him by an unknown source. We believe Diadora to be that unknown source," Hecadoth stated.

"We want you to keep an eye out on the school, as well as on Asia Argento. There is reason to believe that he will go after her s per his usual modus operandi to...well, you know."

Furuichi thinned his lips, imaging what that bastard would do to Asia. He didn't know her. He didn't know her personally and he didn't know her period. But the idea of a friend of Xenovia put into such a situation kindled a strong desire inside Furuichi. LIke with Lamia, he wanted to get at the bastard Diadora for even trying to hurt somebody he knew in anyway.

"Not only that, but we also know now that the situation in the Underworld is worsening, we cannot afford to have you calling on any of our Generals and Barons without express permission from us. As such, we are commissioning you a squad."

"A squad?" Furuichi asked with a raised eyebrow. "Does this mean I can't call in any of them using my tissues or my summoning formulas?"

"You can, however, only for the most extreme situations. By now you are ranked middle-class Devil, so it isn't out of the norm to start treating you with the respect you deserve as a Lieutenant and Pillar Serpent. Your squad will consist of mostly European Devils, so that they can blend in your school. There are five of them in total, and they've already been sent ahead of you to Kuoh. They are residing in the room that you trained with Kirin."

"We've also taken the liberty of setting up a club for you so that you have a reason to use that room," Hecadoth explained.

Furuichi raised his eyebrow. "What club?"

"Military photography!" Iris said as she clapped her hands happily. Furuichi sweatdropped, his sword almost fumbling out of his hand. He nodded timidly and flashed the woman a small smile.

"What about Pierre?"

Hecadoth made a dismissive snort. "What about him? Technically speaking he'll be liaison between us and the official magician faction, but in all actuality he is a glorified prisoner."

"I do however intend to have him spend some time with you. As you are also human, he may feel more comfortable around you, and I also take it he has some sort of fascination with you."

"A lot of people do," Hecadoth agreed. Furuichi glanced at Hecadoth at that remark.

"Furuichi, as a Pillar, we are authorising you to investigate Diodora Astaroth, and to conclude in as unbiased a manner as possible as to whether he is innocent," Behemoth stated.

"I think that's already become unattainable Behemoth-san," Furuichi said stoically. The old man smiled.

"Sometimes you need a little prejudice to light a fire. You are dismissed Lieutenant. A teleportation formula is waiting for you at the other the front of the castle to teleport you to the human world. If I am correct, first period starts in another thirty minutes."

Furuichi saluted and turned smartly to leave the room. Iris followed after him, wheeling herself out the room with her hands without any help.

"Diadora is a sadistic person, Lieutenant, please remember that when dealing with him," Madame Iris implored him as they traveled down the corridor.

"I understand Iris-san. Thank you for the concern," Furuichi said. He blinked when a thought occurred to him. "How is En? Did the Khaos Brigade try to do anything to him during this entire ordeal?"

Iris smiled warmly at his concern. "Thankfully not. I can only thank the Astaroth private troops, and the work of the Pillars of course." Despite himself, Furuichi couldn't help but stick out his chest in pride at the praise. They talked idly after that. Furuichi told her of Xenovia and the progress he was having with her. Iris listened to his worries and his affections for the former exorcists silently, a smile on her face and small gestures that spoke whole paragraphs to him. He was beginning to like and understand Madame Iris more than his previously brief encounter. He could see why Beelze would have missed her.

"Furuichi!" A girl's voice called out to him. Furuichi paused from stepping into the teleportation circuit that would have sent him to Kuoh, and he turned around to gape at the young woman that ran to him. The familiar pink hair and hair clip clued him in on the fact that it was Lamia, and the Lieutenant had to take a step back to regain his bearings.

The pinkette stopped just short of him and Furuichi realized she now stood just at his chest level. She had taken off her doctor's coat, and now she was wearing a white dress that stopped at her knees, and from there red and white striped stocks took over before they ended to black flats.

"I'm coming with you back to Kuoh. Dr Forcas has given me leave to keep watch over you as you perform your new Pillar duties," she told him. Furuichi frowned, narrowing his eyes at the more mature look of the young girl's face.

"How...how did you grow up so fast?" He asked. A blush dusted Lamia's cheeks and by the way she suddenly clenched her fist, Furuichi knew he said the wrong thing.

"Ah, since she is part European and Makai, her maturation rate is faster. This is mostly because of the different lifespans of both Devils and Makai Demons. It's complicated. Beelze ages slower than his brother En, due to his mixture of blood."

"That...that doesn't make any sense at all," Furuichi muttered.

"Well, that doesn't matter! I'm here and I had my growth spurt! So what, I can still shot you with my gun if you get any bright ideas," she retorted loudly. When said the words 'bright ideas' she glanced at Furuichi's feet. The Lieutenant noted the reaction but didn't comment on it. Instead he placated her by raising his hands and waving them in a submissive gesture.

"Right. Sorry; was surprised is all."

She humphed and stepped up to his side, turning in an exaggerated manner that caused her skirt to move in a fantastical manner. "Right well, let's hurry up and go. You have classes soon!" She declared, gripping onto the handle of her suit case tighter.

Furuichi scratched the back of his neck and nodded. He pumped Demonic Energy into the teleportation formula etched onto the ground and waved goodbye to Madame Iris. She waved back enthusiastically, like a mother watching her son leave home, and Furuichi felt a brief moment of vertigo before he disappeared and reappeared in one of the rooms in the old school building.

 **Back from the dead! I really missed writing for this fic, and since I'm back at Singapore, I thought, why not? So now I've written this update.**

 **Anyway, here ya go. Basically to sum it all up, Furuichi has fully stepped into his role as a Pillar and as a member of the DxD universe. With that being said, there will still be cameos of the Ishiyama gang in the future.**

 **My original plan for this story, as in the plan I had like a** _ **year ago**_ **had Furuichi participate in the operation to arrest the Paimon family and stumbling onto a torture chamber that Diadora has for his peerage. But then I thought, "gawd past me was pretty emo" so I tried to keep it less...idk, Hannibal.**

 **Of course there was still a little bit of drawn out melodrama in here. I'm not sure if it came out right or if it's too much. Wouldn't mind getting an opinion on that. On the other hand, this means Furuichi is now fully committed to the story, and with his new squad, do expect him to get around to doing more things, as well as building his harem. I don't think I will immediately jump into the next volume though. I'll probably have a few chapters of fluff before that whole rating game spiel. Actually I can't remember if the next volume is the rating game. Oh well, time to reread the LN then.**

 **Also I basically sped up Lamias growth so that I can kickstart that romance thread faster. Her romance with Furuichi will still be more supportive and grounded than in Xenovia's case. In layman terms, Furuichi will be having an old married couple like relationship with Lamia while with Xenovia he'll have a more newlywed vibe.**

 **Anyways, WDO345 signing out.**


	20. Chapter 20

Furuichi blinked away the motes of light that drifted in his field of vision. His eyesight refocused on the windows of the room that he and Kirin had used for their training before the Peace summit. The Lieutenant rubbed his shoulder and felt his muscle click back into place as he stretched his body from the teleportation trip.

"They really outdid themselves," Lamia said as she appreciated the sight of the renovated club room. There were three black leather couches surrounding a coffee table at the center of the room. On the opposite end there seemed to be two oakwood double door that led to a study room. Decorations of plants and photography of military touch were scattered around the walls and tables, giving off the feel of a loose chaotic neutral vibe. All in all, it was pretty lavishly made for a simple club room.

Furuichi felt both thankfully and guilty at the privileges he was provided as a Pillar in school. In some way the privileges would be paid back in full when he helped to fight off the Khaos Brigade in the coming war, and doubtlessly this intricately detailed room would be shoved to the way side for something more militaristically feasible, but until then Furuichi vowed to enjoy as much of this club room as he could.

There was a knocking on the door. Furuichi raised an inquisitive eyebrow as he glanced at Lamia. She was tucking her medical bag into a filing cabinet in the corner of the room, and had tossed a wary look of hesitation over her shoulder at the unexpected greeting.

Furuichi thought of using senjutsu to discover who was disturbing them, but decided against it. Using senjutsu indoors was a terrible idea. Outside, where the energy of the world was plentiful, the karmic energies were in balance and Furuichi would be able to maintain an equilibrium of energy inside himself. However, indoors was another thing entirely. Indoors was not the realm of nature, but of man. There was no way for Furuichi to know just how balanced or neutral the karmic energies were inside man-made objects. For all he knew this could be a blessed room, overflowing him with too much energy, or a cursed room, and doing the exact opposite. Both outcomes would be best avoided, so Furuichi knew enough about his abilities that he shouldn't use senjutsu just to find out who was behind the door.

His vampire abilities and his werewolf abilities were out as well. He couldn't discover someone's identity by their heart rate or the sound their feet make when it pressed down on wood.

Furuichi resolved to add a peephole in the room for just this kind of occasion and answered the door with an annoyed, uninterested frown on his face. The door swung wide open to reveal the face of a blond foreign woman, her height reaching just about his eyes, with deep amethyst eyes that peered at Furuichi in surprise, awe, and abashment.

The Lieutenant recoiled, unprepared to be face to face with such a beauty. "First Sergeant Kattia, reporting for duty Lieutenant!" She said with a crisp salute, hand set in stone by her forehead. Furuichi was knocked out his reverie by her steady cadence and he carefully cleared his throat as he nodded.

"You're part of my newly assigned squad?" Furuichi asked. She nodded her head fiercely as something burned behind her eyes. Furuichi wanted to shrink away from that look of utter devotion and seriousness, but knew he could not. "Where are the others?" Furuichi asked.

"They will be here shortly, they have been introducing themselves to their classes," she replied dutifully. Furuichi couldn't blame them for that, as they were supposed to be undercover, and so he waved it away with calm gesture.

Looking at his First Sergeant, Furuichi could see Kattia had some russian or german features to her. Most definitely a European Devil - that, and the fact that he couldn't see any gills on her also clued him onto that fact.

Furuichi gestured her in. "I see. Well, I don't have much in the way of first period, so I'll skip that class. You can take a seat here, I want to give you guys...ah, a debriefing." Furuichi still had trouble trying to articulate his words in a more professional manner. He owed it, at the very least, to this new recruits who expected something from him in some way. Furuichi would rather they knew him to be a bit stiff than the fact that he had pictures of women underneath his bed.

The Sergeant nodded her head quickly and mechanically strode towards the couch, she then plopped down and stared unflinchingly forward. Furuichi cocked his head at her odd behaviour, and tossed a confused glance towards Lamia. The pinkette caught his eye and sighed in exasperation; another puzzle for him to decipher rather than a straight answer.

The young doctor stepped forward and dropped down onto the couch right next to the Sergeant. To Furuichi's surprise, the calm and aloof looking woman almost jumped five feet into the air. She landed down with her mouth wide and her eyes darting to the tiny pinkette next to her. Her expression morphed between annoyance, to realization when she caught the pink hair, then to stunned awe.

The dots connected in Furuichi's head like a bolt of lightning, and the Lieutenant couldn't help but slap his own head at his idiocy. First Sergeant or not, there was no getting out of the way that the woman sitting in front of him was a rookie. A rookie that he had just been told joined the Pillars due to his own influence in the organization. Now she was in the same room as that influence, and not only that, but also the student of some famous doctor in Makai. Of course she was nervous.

"Stand to First Sergeant," Furuichi said calmly. His uniform seized. Like how it had a mind of its own, it modified his 'at ease' stance to something more comfortable, welcoming even. The First Sergeant tensed her shoulders and tilted her head back to stare at the ceiling.

"Yes!" She replied evenly. Furuichi nodded, only because he didn't exactly how to proceed directly after that, and sat down on the chair opposite her.

"It's okay First Sergeant. I just want to ask simple questions," Furuichi told her and placed his hands on his lap in an open gesture. "Where are your from? What were you before the Pillars? Simple questions, First Sergeant; not the kind you need to be tense and ready to bolt for."

The First Sergeant screwed her first into an indescribable expression for a moment, before relenting and letting go of all her tension with a breath. She nodded her head but kept her arms straight on her lap and back upright. Well, Furuichi couldn't have expected her to start partying in front of her boss, but he would have liked it if she loosened up a bit more.

"My full name is Eldana Kattia, and I was raised in the Underworld. My family were originally retainers to the House of Vesago during the War Against Heaven. Since the rise of the New Maous we've retired most members in my family from the military and have taken more miscellaneous jobs for the working of the Underworld," Kattia stated.

Furuichi digested her information quickly, trying to place the name Vesago over the names of the 72 Pillar families he knew. "Was your family involved in the Civil War?"

She nodded her head with a serious look. "I had an older brother who pledged his life to the House of Vesago and Astaroth. He sadly did not survive to see the end of it, but he was awarded the Devil's Virtue posthumously for his actions."

Furuichi raised an eyebrow, having never heard of that medal - not like he was accustomed to Devil society that he would know.

"That's an extremely rare honor," Lamia stated, glancing at Furuichi. He set his shoulders and adopted an amazed posture. Back straight, eyebrows up in surprise, and mouth set into a firm line. He had gotten better at his acting it seemed.

"So why have you decided to join the Pillars?" Furuichi asked, absentmindedly fiddling with his Serpent Guard pin. Kattia's eyes flashed at the pin, biting her bottom lip in some unknown emotion as she thought of an answer.

"I-I just...I wanted to. I didn't want to stay a Low-Class Devil with the heritage of a thousand other peons worth nothing more than cannon fodder to the higher devils," Kattia stated. Furuichi nodded his head, letting go of his Serpent Guard Pin when he noticed her looking at it.

"And what am I to that dream of yours, First Sergeant Kattia?"

She sighed loudly. "An inspiration, maybe. You're someone who should have at all odds never have achieved what you have - like me - but you did. You even fought against Satan." She shook her head.

"Technically, Oga fought against Satan. I was just tagging along for the ride, and even then I was luckier than most. I had the Beelzebub's son taking an interest in my best friend, and the rest were all semantics that led to me being here. If anything, I'm an unplanned sub product."

Kattia frowned. "I see. But even if you say that you cannot deny that you've done amazing things. The Pillars Squad was once an exclusive military unit meant for the very best of Makai. With the help of the Beelzebub's son or not, the fact you were able to enter at all...and how you kept distinguishing yourself with success after success -"

"It's okay," Furuichi said with a pleasant smile. "You don't have to justify my achievements to me." The woman flushed and bent her eyes to the ground.

A very earnest girl, Furuichi thought, but if the Pillars were as professional as everyone seemed to believe they were - and to be frank he hadn't seen a very professional side to them since now - then there was probably reasons as to why she was given the rank of First Sergeant. Furuichi didn't know what that rank implied for her duties or what the qualifications thereof was.

There was a knocking on the door and four others filed into the room. Two women and two man. They paused by the door and assembled at the door with their hands behind their back.

Furuichi turned to them and smiled bracingly. Kattia took her place to the left of the formation, half-a-rank forward to denote her position as an NCO. The Lieutenant glanced at all of them, unsure as to how to approach dealing with them. Finally he sighed and just recalled what little he could from the military movies he'd watched.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, since I expect us to be together for a while, I feel introductions are in order," Furuichi said, then he crossed his arms and nodded. "I am Furuichi Takayuki, you can call me Furuichi. I am a Lieutenant, and a Serpent Guard, but don't take them too seriously."

Since Kattia had already introduced herself the next person in line did. "Corporal Erwin Schutz! Reporting for duty!" Corporal Erwin had broad shoulders, and his short brown hair was in a crew cut. Overall, Furuichi thought he was a dependable person.

"Signal Operator Tania Elbert!" The shortest woman in the line, her height reaching somewhere around his chest, said as she saluted. She had a bob of black hair, with a serious set of eyes that spoke of a steel-like resolve. A good subordinate - well, depending on how she was.

"Frank Vaults. Marksman," the second one stated, adjusting a bolt-action rifle strapped to his back. Furuichi raised an eyebrow at that. He couldn't see the man's face due to the cap that he wore, but Furuichi got the feeling of someone vague and enigmatic.

"Danica Collins, Spotter and CQB Specialist," the last woman said. She had her long brown hair tied to a bob, hidden under a peaked cap. She was tall, about Furuichi's height, and she filled her uniform nicely. Furuichi took a moment to give a double once-over, before nodding his head.

"I expect we'll become quite used to ourselves in the coming days. Though we are in a school setting, and everything seems normal, take it from someone who's seen the abnormal even in a school - especially in a school - but we may have our work cut out for us," Furuichi stated.

"Of course, Sir! Everyone here is willing to give one hundred and ten percent to the mission!" Sergeant Kattia said.

"Of course First Sergeant. Now about that mission; on paper we are to protect the two heiresses to the Gremory and Sitri clan, however, our primary concern lies with further Khaos Brigade actions relating to these two groups in particular," Furuichi stated.

The group looked serious and tensed as they regarded Furuichi, their body language showing they were ready to do anything for victory. Furuichi felt a sweatdrop form at the back of his head, but he carefully waved it away with his mind. "Since summer vacation starts next week, we won't have much to do. Because of that I would like to be able to increase my proficiency." By that he meant, his proficiency with taking pictures...maybe, with Xenovia.

"By that you mean a training exercise for all of us?" Kattia asked, her eyes firing into excitement. The others beside her fidgeted and glanced at each other in anticipation.

Wait...wait! That's taking too much from the anime's he's watched. He didn't know how to train a military unit. But, damn, they were giving him a glowy-eyed look! There was no helping it! He had to refuse! There was no point in giving them training that he was unsure was going to help them.

"Of course!" Furuichi replied with a bright smile and a thumbs up. He died a little on the inside. The faces on his men brightened and Furuichi felt his back ache. Lamia was staring with a blank, stony expression; silently judging him for falling to peer pressure. The Lieutenant placed a palm on his forehead and shook his head. "The lot of you are dismissed, I have other business to tend to. Oh, and if you ever have any medical concerns Lamia is here to help you."

"I am a student of Dr Forcas, renowned Blackjack title holder of Makai. You can be sure I will take good care of you," Lamia stated proudly. Furuichi couldn't tell exactly, but he thought their morale was boosted by hearing that."

"Lamia, if you want to follow me," Furuichi said. The pinkette nodded her head and stepped to his side. Taller, Furuichi thought as he looked down on her. "You are all dismissed."

Furuichi should get an Oscar for his performance. He left the room with Lamia hot on his heels, her footsteps clipped and professional-like. He glanced at her from his side and smiled softly.

0o0o Furuichi's Demonic Adventure o0o0

"The Lieutenant seems like a very serious Officer," Erwin commented. The squad had been left in the club room after the Lieutenant left with Medical Officer trainee Lamia, and the group had decided to pass the time by talking about their new leader.

"Yes, he seems every bit the serious Commander I thought him to be," Danica said as she pumped her fist. "He seems like the take charge, fight from the front kind of leader."

Tania frowned as she crossed her arms. "I heard that the Lieutenant is more of a Strategic Officer. I heard that in the Beelzebub's son contractor's personal court, he is both an advisor and confidant to him."

"That's right, but I also heard he infiltrated the Lucifer's contractor's base during a battle between the Beelzebub and Lucifer in order to gather information on the opposition," Erwin interjected. "A commanding officer like that is an example to all frontline officers."

"All rumours hold some semblance of truth. However, it is hard to discern from where the truth begins and where it ends," Kattia stated. "What we must rely on are the official records since the Lieutenant's joining of the Pillars."

"Fought in the Battle Against Satan, alongside all Pillar Generals and Barons. Successfully held the line for 43 minutes before being crippled under its strength. Participated in an intelligence operation to receive secrets from an assassin hired to kill the Beelzebub. Participated in the Kuoh Academy Rogue Exorcist and Fallen Angel Operation; successfully holding off the Fallen Angel Kokabiel in two occurrences. Successfully defended the Maous and fought General Crow to a standstill. Survived a skirmish against the leaders of the Hero Faction," Frank recited.

"It's amazing what the Lieutenant accomplished in just a few months," Danica whistled in awe.

"It is said that the Lieutenant was groomed to survive harsh conditions at an early age," Erwin said. "I heard that the Beelzebub's contractor was some sort of child soldier and the Lieutenant would engage in various sorties with him."

"I also heard a rumour similar to that! I heard that the Lieutenant had his soul split apart and managed to survive long enough rejoin their part thanks to his experiences," Tania muttered.

"The more we speak about the Lieutenant, the more unreal he seems," Kattia stated. "I talked to him earlier, and he has a very humble vibe to him. Incredibly, he is a man of many achievements, yet he revels in them calmly and without frivolity. He also does not differentiate between ranks, and treated me in a way befitting between superior and subordinate." The words of praises Kattia said were born deep inside her and were her honest true feelings.

"I wonder what his training is going to be like?" Tania said.

"I shudder to think of what a Lieutenant raised in such conditions will come up for us so that we meet his standards," Erwin admitted.

"It doesn't matter. I know that all of you were part of the same training batch. We all worked hard in order to gain recognition for our efforts and this is our first step there! Whatever the Lieutenant throws at us, we have to meet it a hundred and ten percent," Kattia vowed. All of her comrades agreed, a steel-like resolve behind their pupils as they nodded.

o0o0 Furuichi's Demonic Adventure o0o0

"Yeah, thanks. I'm really sorry for imposing, but this came out on a left field for me," Furuichi said on the phone. "What? Oh, sure, I'm down with that. Thanks. Yea, thanks, you too."

"Who were you talking too?" Xenovia asked as she ate her bento from Furuichi left side.

"An old friend. I'm trying to schedule a training session for some of my new squad," Furuichi told her as he took a bite of his lemon bread. Lamia was carefully eating her own bento as she hooked her left arm around Furuichi's right. Furuichi was surprised by her actions and had to raise an inquisitive eyebrow at the out of character move, but seeing Lamia bite into her food with a flushed face kept him from voicing his thoughts.

"Training is important, we all have a duty to uphold in a squad and going through adversity together, no matter how planned, helps foster unit cohesion and solidarity," Xenovia said as she nodded her head. Furuichi sweatdropped, understanding what she meant but not being able to relate as he had nothing but adversity from his time with Oga.

Xenovia, after noticing his hand was free, intertwined her fingers with his left hand. Despite the fact that Furuichi couldn't feel anything in that hand, he couldn't help but feel hot under his collar when she pushed up against him. From across the room, Motohama and Matsuda of the Perverted Trio were glaring at Furuichi in jealousy. Despite himself, Furuichi flashed them a cool charming smile and watched with mirth as they cried out to the gods in jealousy and regrets.

"Takayuki-kun," Xenovia said, and Furuichi tensed his shoulders, surprised at her sudden calling of his name. "Say 'ah'" Xenovia placed her chopstick with food towards his mouth, and Furuichi felt his mind enter a different kind of bliss. He opened his mouth and accepted the food offering with great happiness surging in his heart.

The arm hooked on his right arm tightened and Furuichi turned to see a frown on Lamia's face. "Geez, can't you guys not do this in public!" Furuichi could hear Motohama and Matsuda's cries of regret and prayers for his death in the background.

Furuichi felt sweat form in the back of his neck when he realised he was in the school cafeteria. "Ah, yes I see." He admitted bashfully. He blinked when Lamia then produced a handkerchief from her pocket and gestured for Furuichi to lower his head. He must have had some food clinging to his lip, because Lamia slowly and deliberately began wiping it with her handkerchief. After she was done with that her left hand trailed across his jawline, surprising Furuichi.

He wasn't afraid to admit it, but Furuichi's body was pretty good after all the training he had. He was probably more built than Oga. Because of that Furuichi can safely say his physique is one of the newest additions to his good points. Lamia retracted her hand with a blush and continued eating.

"Muu~ That's cheating," Xenovia muttered under her breath. Furuichi smiled in bemusement and patted both the girls on the head.

Just then a presence stepped up behind him. Furuichi glanced behind him to see that Saji was standing there waiting to be noticed. "Ah. Saji-kun. If you're here...then does Sitri-sama want to talk to me?"

"Yes," Saji stated with a nervous smile. "She is waiting for you at the student council room. She has yet told me the details as to why she wanted to, but I'd like it if you quickly moved to her."

"I see, thank you for your notice," Furuichi sighed. "Lamia, Xenovia, sorry but it seems like I'll be taking my leave."

"It's fine. I expected this since I became the girlfriend to one of the Pillars," Xenovia stated. Lamia nodded her head too.

"I understand. I am the daughter to the second-in-command to the whole Pillars. I know you have important business to attend to."

Furuichi smiled at the two girls and felt his heart swell with some emotion. Well, in this instance, it could probably be categorized as gratefulness. He stepped behind Saji and walked with him towards the student council room.

"I heard you and the Student Council have been training well," Furuichi said. He didn't actually really know, he just assumed they were.

His assumption was apparently spot on. "Yes. We've been working hard in preparation for the Rating Games," Saji said with a fire in his eyes. "We plan to win and take our place as the victors."

"I see," Furuichi said with a half smirk. He remembered, a long while ago, when he and Oomori competed in the Christmas Games at Saint Ishiyama. It seemed so long ago, but Furuichi still remembered how he wanted to win in the end.

"I see. That is right, you're all still in your springtime of youth as first years," Furuichi said as he crossed his arms. Saji glanced back at him, and the Lieutenant could tell that younger teenagers was sweat dropping. That not good! He was being serious here. "Listen Saji, I don't mean to overstep my bounds, but taken it from me. Being a first year was the best time of my life, and if I could I would do it all over again. Have fun while it lasts Saji, live it to its fullest through pain and hardship." Fucking hell that sounded sappy, but Furuichi wasn't joking. His first year in Ishiyama was the best time of his life; the best time he had with his best friend. All the friends he made and the hardships he went through, the skills and talents he made. Being a first year was a great time, and hopefully his second year would be the same.

So with the feelings of a second year facing his new life with uncertainty, Furuichi bared his heart to Saji. The secretary to the Student Council seemed to have caught his feelings as he nodded his head with a determined look. "Yes, I will. Thank you Lieutenant Furuichi-san!"

Furuichi nodded his head and knocked his knuckles against the door to the Student Council room. Sona Sitri's voice can be heard on the other end asking for him to enter. Furuichi waved goodbye to Saji and pushed the door open, stepping into the council room with his eyes sweeping left and right.

Sona Sitri sat by the window with a chess set in front of her. She looked ever the calm and aloof kaichou. Furuichi adjusted his shirt and stepped towards the desk. "Lieutenant Furuichi arriving as per request."

Sona-Kaichou turned to him with a smile tugging her lips. She then gestured to the seat opposite her. "Thank you for arriving with such haste. If you don't mind, I would like the both of us seated for this."

Fluidly, and with assistance of his uniform, Furuichi pulled the chair and sat down with elegance and grace he was surprised was capable of his body. Sona smiled at his posture and looked at her chest set.

"Do you play?" She asked.

"At times," Furuichi admitted. He was no pro at the game but he had played enough times to not embarrass himself.

Sona nodded her head. "Then we will play while we talk. I shall start first, what exactly happened at the peace conference?" Sona played her Knight.

Furuichi frowned and played his Rook. "The old school building came under attack by members of the Old Maou faction and magicians. Of them I can confirm the identity of two of them; that being a Cry Legion General by the name of Crow and a magician named Neil."

Sona contemplated his words as she sent her bishop forward. Furuichi didn't think when he played his next piece, he just sent his Queen forward. The Kaichou raised an eyebrow and launched her Knight further down the board. Furuichi intercepted with his Bishop.

"Those seem to be great odds against us. To think the Cry Legion remained operational after all this time," Sona muttered.

"There is a silver lining. We managed to kill two of the three Old Maous and deplete the number of enemies by quite a margin," Furuichi said. Sona had already taken his Rook and one of his Pawns. Furuichi had taken Sona's Knight and two Pawns. Her Bishop came out of nowhere and took another of his Pawns.

Furuichi reached forward and took that Bishop with his Queen. "A grid?" Sona muttered as she stared at the board. Furuichi had his pieces split out all around the chessboard. Pawns at the center of the formation - infantry of the line - and his Bishops on the sides of the formation, further at the back to protect his King.

His Knights were holding position at the center of the Pawns formation, right behind the two closest Pawns to Sona's side of the board. His Queen was standing ready at the center of the board with a Rook, ready to burst through any opening Sona presented.

"Maybe," Furuichi admitted. He had let his body do most of the work. In his soul he could feel certain parts of it move and react to the chessboard in front of him. m. A little piece of his vampire soul, sullen and prideful as it was, reached forward with feeble attempts and probed his mind with useful considerations for the chess pieces. The werewolf and the youkai in him stared at the chess board, and Furuichi had the incessant feeling of vertigo and nostalgia, before they retracted back into themselves. The water spirit didn't seem to have any recognition to the game but it adjusted and filled Furuichi's mind with calm and ease. The Lieutenant frowned at this unknown and new behaviour of the monsters in his soul. Even Kirin's soul seemed to want to play a part in the chess game.

"It's a sound strategy, turning a good defense into an equally as good offense," Sona admitted. "However, as with everything, there are flaws in your plan." Sona bypassed his Pawns and cornered his King with her Rook. "Check."

"As with everything, perfection does not guarantee success. Flexibility and adaptability are the key cornerstones of strategy," Furuichi, recalling some old show where a history teacher had said the exact same thing. He moved his Bishop in front of the Rook, safeguarding his most pivotal piece from the danger.

Sona frowned and attacked the Bishop, only to realise she had come directly under the sights of Furuichi's last remaining Rook. He took her piece and sat back on his chair with a satisfied smile.

"I see the rumors of your strategic ability have merit to them," Sona said as she crossed her arms under her bust. Furuichi tried not to ogle them as he nodded his head in an abashed manner.

"I believe those rumours embellish too much for their own good," he said. Sona smiled at him again and shook her head. He was being serious though Kaichou-sama! He wasn't as smart as people thought he was!

"Certainly, that is why I had this chess game, to see if you truly had the intellect to match the stories," Sona said as she pushed back her glasses. She crossed her legs and smiled at him. "I must say I am not disappointed." Pride rose in Furuichi's chest but he carefully smothered it to make sure he didn't show her the wrong impression of him.

Sona Kaichou sighed and looked back out at the window. "Still, the situation is deteriorating at an unprecedented rate since the Peace Conference. Even though the Underworld has reached a peaceful accord with the Heaven and Grigory, the current events is shaping up to create a long lasting war between the Underworld and the Khaos Brigade." There was a look of utter displeasure, worry, and fear on Sona's face.

Furuichi was surprised to see the usually calm and aloof bespectacled Onee-sama look so distressed over the current happenings in the Underworld. Thinking about it, it was only natural for her to be worried. This was her country, her people, her family on the line right now. Furuichi bit his lip and refrained from saying anything rude, as someone who was far removed from that world.

"I'm sorry, as a Pillar you too must be extremely worried over the coming war with the Khaos Brigade," Sona said.

Well, that wasn't necessarily false, but it wasn't true either. He had, earlier today, thought about taking pictures with me Xenovia. "You have every right to be worried for your homeland."

"Indeed, I can't help but feel the acceleration of our positions has to do with the current situation. I presume you have heard about the gathering of the Young Devils - Bael, Agares, Gremory, and Sitri."

Furuichi had in fact not known about it, but he has gotten enough information to understand the gist of it. So he nodded his head in the affirmative.

"The gathering of the Rookies Four shows that the leaders of the Underworld are preparing for something. I am unsure if I feel that my Peerage is ready to face that something."

"I understand how you feel," Furuichi admitted. "I'm actually planning a training trip for my squad of Pillars this summer in order to have them at peak physical condition."

"So you're going to miss the Young Devil Meeting?" Sona asked. There was a disappointed tilt to her eyebrows and Furuichi crossed his arms while shaking his head.

"I don't expect the training to take too long. Two and a half weeks at best. It should be more than enough to whip them to shape." Or at least, that was what Furuichi's friend told him.

"Three weeks? You're planning on doing a lot in three weeks. Though I do understand where you're coming from. I also have begun training my peerage, primarily in preparation for the Rating Games. I fully intend to take the throne as the winner against the Rookie Four."

"I see," Furuichi nodded his head as he played his pawn. He managed to get his pawn piece on the other side of his chess board and called for his Knight.

"I suppose this makes checkmate then?" Sona asked as she placed her bishop foreward, trapping his King in a deadly square formed by her chess pieces after she managed one of her pawns onto the other side of the board.

"Right back at you," Furuichi said simply. Since turning his pawn into a Knight, he now had a killzone on Sona's King. With no way out the only way for Sona to concede was for a draw. Furuichi felt his soul light up in pleasure and excitement over getting a draw with the Kaichou, and even the Lieutenant felt a bit proud at meeting the Great Onee-sama into a draw.

She too seemed surprised, as she had widened her eyes when she realised what had happened. Then, finally, after a moment a self-satisfied smile crossed her lips. "I see. Perhaps those embellishments weren't so far fetched after all." Furuichi smiled in abashment as he rubbed the back of his neck, unaware of how closely Sona-Kaichou was looking at him.

She asked him regular questions after that. Normal stuff. Pillar work. Surface personal stuff. They were closing topics to an ending conversation and Furuichi had no problems speaking about it. Just as Furuichi thought the conversation was going to come to a standstill, Sona tensed her shoulders and glanced at the school grounds.

"I see. Your First Sergeant did tell me the Pillars would be upgrading the School's Boundary Barriers. What a fearsome new set of spells, truly I wouldn't want to overstep myself in this school anymore if I were the enemy."

Furuichi wasn't made aware of this and stared out at the wall. Carefully, he fixed senjutsu into his eyes and glanced at the ley lines around the school. What could be described as an impenetrable dome of demonic energy, mixed with holy energy, could be seen encompassing the entire area. Even uneducated in the ways of demonic energy as he was, Furuichi couldn't help but slacken his jaw at the impressive sight.

From what little experience Furuichi had, he deduced that the dome could probably take a full blast from Oga at maximum power output. The Lieutenant couldn't help but shook his head at the ludicrous amount of energy expended just to protect this school.

"I suppose I should thank the Pillar squad for going out of the way to protect this school and its students to such a level," Sona said with a sight, as though it was a chore. To Furuichi's surprise she rose to her full height and took a step towards him. Without realising it, Furuichi immediately stood up as though he were being attack. That was the only conclusion Furuichi could derive from seeing the calm and aloof Sona-Kaichou, that they were under attack.

When he was preparing to pull out his sword, Sona-Kaichou reached forward and grabbed Furuichi's shoulders, then with surprising strength from those dainty fingers - which admittedly shouldn't be so surprising - and held him in place. Then she reached forward and kissed his cheek. Furuichi stilled, surprise, and nearly cried out in pure joy at the feeling of the soft Onee-san's lips against his skin.

"I do hope you don't mind, but take this as a symbol of my own gratitude," Sona smiled slightly. She then calmly turned Furuichi around and escorted him out of the room. The Lieutenant would have stumbled if not for the room, and instead he calmly marched out, a dazed expression on his face.

He stopped at the door and turned around, staring at Sona-Kaichou as she leaned against the door, half obscuring a part of her body. Maybe it was his skyrocketing hormones after the kiss, but Furuichi found that image to be incredibly erotic.

"I think you should return to class now. The student council has done its best to cover your absences due to your place as a Pillar, however, we cannot keep making excuses for you." She paused for a moment as she looked at Furuichi. "I hope you wouldn't mind if I were to schedule these talks regularly. Would you?"

"Not at all Sona-Kaichou," Furuichi admitted. The student council president nodded her head and closed the door. Furuichi straightened his tie and felt the spring of his youth finally take full fruition. My harem is becoming a reality.

He whistled to himself as he walked down the hallway. Returning to Xenovia, he had told her of what happened at the student council room. The battle horny exorcist had said that she can understand that Furuichi attracts many women, and since Sona Sitri is an heiress, Xenovia knew that she had no problem with sharing him - "As long as you can still show me what's it like to be a girl," she told him.

When Lamia heard of it. Well. The new recruits spent the entire week wondering what was going on between the Lieutenant and the Medical Officer, as every time they met for a general meeting, the pinkette would glare at his back. Furuichi scratched his neck, and despite himself he tried his best to ignore the prickling feeling at his back whenever he stopped by.

He got to know a bit more of his recruits personalities, but he never ventured too deep. Best to leave that for their training. Which was coming soon, at the end of this week, and the start of summer vacation.

The bottom part is a little rushed by Polytechnic life right now has been pretty tiring and I finished this on the train back. Anyways, this is mostly set up for the next chapter where Furuichi will begin the training arc (2-3 chapters) with his new squad. Also I kickstarted the Sona romance now. I will develop more later.

The training arc I plan on finally starting the Lamia romance. I think twenty chapters in is a good place to finally finalizing the romances in Furuichi's harem. Also, I've been reading Youjuu Senki a lot.

When I first started writing FDA, I used the Overlord LNs as inspiration to keep writing, but since Volume 12 seems so far in the horizon, especially since the new official english translations seem to take for-fucking-ever, I've since switched to Youjo Senki. Honestly I really like it, and I like how the anime, manga, and LNs are very different from each other. In the Anime it focuses alot on Being X and Tanya, as well as Tanya's more crueler nature, while in the manga its a lot like how i've set up furuichi in this story.

Their both exceptional characters but most of their deeds or personality is comical misunderstandings on the part of everyone there. Ofc i'll use the manga as inspiration since they're similar. You can expect I'll borrow some elements in Youju senki's manga into this fic.


	21. Chapter 21

"So you're going to the Underworld with Gremory-san?" Furuichi asked as he adjusted his tie. Xenovia was sitting on his bed, a magazine about dating life on her lap, while Lamia sat at the head of the bed combing through some medical book.

"I'm not sure of what exactly we'll be doing, but Buchou tells us that it's an important meeting between the young Devils with power in the Underworld," Xenovia said as she flipped through the magazine. "Well, it was to be expected. Reluctantly you and I can't go on any summer dates. I was told such dates usually warranted the elevation to another tier of dating."

Furuichi sweatdropped as he folded his sleeves. "I'll take you on a date when I next see you. We'll see if that leads to another tier of dating or not."

Xenovia nodded her head enthusiastically at his reply.

Lamia shoved her things into bag noisily, her left cheek being bitten in between her teeth. The pinkette seemed to he in a bad mood for a long time now, and Furuichi was unsure why or how. Well, that was a thing to be discussed at a later date, in personal company.

Still, she continued to glare at him whenever she saw him and it was pretty grating on his nerves. The Lieutenant shook those thoughts aside and slung his bag over his right shoulder. "Well, it can't be helped if we're both busy. The training I have with my men is scheduled to take around three weeks, but if I can, I will see if I can meet you in the Underworld."

Xenovia stood up with a graceful arc to her back. Furuichi burned the sight of her figure stretching upwards from his bed as though it was the most natural thing in the world and smiled. To his surprise Xenovia gave him a hug and squeeze. Thankfully Furuichi's body was stronger than it once was, because he was pretty sure his spine would have snapped otherwise. "The magazine also stated that excessive skinship before long periods of not seeing each other is also important in maintaining a working relationship!" She stated as she pulled back just enough to look at Furuichi's face.

Furuichi tried his best to smother his smirk. Xenovia was such a naive girl, it was extremely cute to see her try and do her best in everything she did. The Lieutenant chuckled and hug Xenovia back, reveling in the feeling of her curves, the warmth of her body, and its softness before letting go. The girl smiled fondly at the lingering feeling of the embrace and sighed.

"It feels as though we rarely have time together to spend at all. I await our next date with great anticipation," Xenovia said with a smile and quickly reached down to grab her bag. "If only things were a bit different. I could have met you when I was still with the Church."

"They probably wouldn't have allowed an affair between an Exorcist and a Pillar," Furuichi commented.

"They would have probably ostracized the both of you," Lamia chimed in. Xenovia laughed, crossing her arms under her bust. For some reason, Furuichi thought that both Xenovia and Lamia had gotten closer in the time he went away. "Either way, you should quickly leave. It would be bad form to your Master to arrive late to a meeting."

"Of course, Lamia-chan," Xenovia said. The little pinkette girl squawked in surprise at the sudden addition of the suffix, and Furuichi stifled a smile at watching her reaction. The older girl waved goodbye and quickly left the apartment, her bag held firmly in between her hands as she raced off to school. Honoka had already left for home for summer vacation, but Furuichi, sadly, would not be able to enjoy the summer time in the comfort of his own room - not to say the apartment didn't provide him enough comfort at all.

He much preferred the apartment over training in some outback with his new squad. But he had to let it go, he had made his commitments, now he had to honor them. But damn it if he didn't want it to! Swimsuits! It was summer vacation and there were swimming pools full of beautiful women in swimsuits that he was denied the ability to see.

Furuichi hooked his Pillar-issued all purpose tactical backpack higher on his back as he breathed in a deep sigh. The little pinkette girl beside him but her cheek as she turned away, her hips set on her waists in a - as he was coming to realise he was admitting more often - adorable fashion.

"Let's go Lamia. No rest for the wicked," Furuichi said with a strained smile. Lamia glanced in his direction from the corner of her eye. The faint dusting of pink on her cheeks grew redder and she nodded sullenly.

"I could be back home with Mama!" Lamia groused as she kicked the ground. "Instead I'm heading to a training programme with you." Furuichi chuckled and pushed the door to his apartment open. As he had expected, his new squad, Pillar Squad A21, were lined up on the other side in full Pillar uniform, sans the coat that was used by Generals and Barons or for ceremonial purposes.

Kattia was standing poised and ready on the opposite end of the line. His First Sergeant was very serious at all the things she set out to do, and that was a bit of a downer dot on Furuichi as that just meant he had to be serious more often too. Lest he disappointed her and his squad by being anything but.

Furuichi fingered the Serpent Pin on his chest, his mind wandering to how far his inclusion in this new organization, and this war, was going to be. He had already mustered up the determination to see this entire war to its completion, and he was ready to see what exactly that determination would end up turning himself into, but he was afraid; like all things, the unknown of what you would become lingered well in a teenager's mind.

"Everyone ready?" Furuichi asked. His squad snapped clean precise salutes. Hecadoth had informed him his unit had accelerated training, due to the speedy nature of their deployment. Beyond that, they were the result of experimental technologies in time dilation fields. Furuichi figured they didn't need much training beyond what they were given, but since he had dug this hole for himself, well, there was no way out of it.

"This training will be... _officiated_ by a friend of mine. This is mostly off the record work and I fully intend to have this be... _something_ of a learning curve for you. For one thing, I will not be training you as Devils, I will be training you as _Humans_."

There's a rustle through the ranks as they glanced at each other. Before finally, Erwin opened up his mouth to speak. "But, how does this benefit us?"

"In many ways. The weak are the weak, there are many ways how the weak can be destroyed by the strong, but you need only look in the past to see how the weak have triumphed. I...my _earlier_ days were spent avoiding battle, and even that is a useful skill to have. You will learn how to live as the weak, to then empower you as the strong." Furuichi was pulling all this from his ass but it was making due. They seemed to be buying his explanation, which was something Furuichi was eternally grateful for.

"Here you go," Lamia said as she handed out little bands of metal to each of the members. "These are suppression bands; they'll keep your power levels to the level of a human being, which means you can't use magic and your strength levels are equivalent to that of an average human."

"This is a three week training course, one which I fully believe all of you should be more than prepared for," Furuichi stated, then sighed audibly. "Our first stop is meeting your instructor."

Furuichi pulled out a transporter circle that he had requisitioned from the Pillars. With a forlorn sigh at his wasted summer, Furuichi poured magical energy siphoned from his King's Crest into the circle. Before long a red glow took over the hallway, and both he and his compatriots disappeared in a flash of light, both in the area and in his eyes.

He resisted the urge to cry out in surprise, on account of him wanting to keep his calm and aloof impression on his squad. Despite the effect that Furuichi was in no way shape or form happy at having his vision impaired in any way. Maybe it was the Kirin in him talking, but his eyesight was an ability he'd rather have at all times.

Furuichi dropped his hand and blinked away the bright spots in his vision.

"Man you guys are just full of surprising things, aren't ya," a familiar grating voice said. Furuichi blinked away the pain in his eyes and stared at the man standing at the edge of the clearing. He was a yankee, dressed in a casual jacket and jeans, with a short crop of blonde hair.

Furuichi immediately recognised him. "Duran!" He greeted enthusiastically. The former gang member smiled and reached out his hand to grip Furuichi's and they shook in a surprisingly formal manner. His sister Brenda and her father were nowhere in sight, but that was alright, Furuichi would rather have the training be over and done with quickly rather than dwelling on greetings and small talk.

"Been a long time," Duran said, a small smirk playing on his lips. "Surprised me when you told me you joined a PMC group. You do realise I'm at a risk giving you guys training for no reason?"

"It's why I'll owe you one," Furuichi said. "Name it and I'll do it, but I need you to make these guys... _something more_ than what they already are."

"Uh-huh," Duran muttered as he stuck a cigarette in his mouth. "I can do that. Like I said it's a three week training, which you should be thanking me for since I'm using up _my_ leave."

Furuichi grinned in abashment at the grouchiness in his tone.

Duran had been an ex gang member that had helped Oga and him find the Solomon Company way back in their first year. His family had done right by them, and Furuichi had been keeping in touch with his sister Brenda over the years. A couple of months ago Brenda had let slip about how Duran had joined the Marines a while back; which led to Furuichi calling him to train his new squad.

"So what do you have planned for us?"

"You're going to be trained is what is. The training exercise will more or less train you and your men the mental fortitude needed in order to survive in untold amounts of stress on the battlefield," Duran said as he puffed out a cloud of smoke.

"Wait _me_ too," Furuichi exclaimed. "Why?!"

"What's the point of a squad training if the officer isn't going to take part in it? As a grunt, you should be willing to go through the same training as your men. In the end, it'll just increase unit cohesion."

"But," Furuichi started.

"-No buts. You're taking part in it, whether you like it or not."

The Lieutenant bit his tongue from any more protest. Well, it couldn't be helped now could it. If that was how it was going to be then Furuichi had nothing more to do than pray that it wasn't anything too dangerous. He had dug this hole for himself to begin with anyway, so he'd roll with the punches rather than dodge them.

Duran pushed past Furuichi, which was irksome if not for the fact Furuichi could understand he was trying to assert _some_ dominance as the training instructor for their little programme.

"Now, this is how it's going to be, first of all, I will need the names and specializations of each of you," Duran asked, and Furuichi noticed how he paid particular attention to Frank Vaults and his rifle.

With Furuichi's permission First Sergeant Kattia began listing down the specializations and the names of each member of their squad.

Duran listened absentmindedly, a cigarette burning in his grasp as he watched her with an intensity that surprised Furuichi. There was calculation behind that look; a deep seated respect and determination Furuichi had not noticed in him beforehand.

"Good, you seem to be a mixed bag of specialists. This will be your training; and it will be a _hell_ of a training. It is my belief that experience outweighs everything, and that is what I'm giving you," Duran said cryptically. He turned and gave Furuichi a look, and the former 2nd year Ishiyama student only had a moment to express confusion before he realised Duran was looking at something behind him.

When Furuichi turned; well, he had the distinct feeling that he was going to regret his decision of following up on Duran's training.

0o0o **Furuichi's Demonic Adventure** o0o0

Wind flapped against Furuichi's face as he stared down at the sprawling savannah landscape below him. The seaplane they were passengers of was flying high in the sky above the African country like a vulture circling a corpse; and from where Furuichi was standing, seeing the rising smoke and fire that was visible even that high into the sky, it most definitely looked like a corpse - a _desecrated_ corpse.

"What you guys are looking at is the devastation caused by a civil war between the Alliance for Popular Resistance and the United Front for Liberation and Labour. That down there is a Far Cry from civilization, it's a war zone of depravity and atrocities," Duran said as he handed out rifles to each of the soldiers.

Lamia made a clicking noise as she pulled out her handgun, staring at the offered rifle in disdain.

Furuichi accepted the offered G3KA4 with a cocked eyebrow. "This weapon has seen better days." He didn't need to be a gun expert to know the rust and the overall decrepit appearance of the gun wasn't ideal.

"I _don't_ have free guns to give out. Everything you get is ammunition and weaponry I've procured from the stockpiles in the country," Duran said. Frank shook his head and declined the offered weaponry, instead making a show of shifting the weight of his M14. Duran nodded his head appreciatively and handed the last weapon, an FAL Paratrooper, to Kattia.

"What is the point of this... _exercise_?" Furuichi asked. There was goosebumps all across his back thinking about entering a warzone, but another part of Furuichi knew that gaining experience in this war would help him face the other, more important, one. There was another, hidden part of him that felt vaguely... _excited_ at the prospect of it. Furuichi could feel something in his soul squealing in delight.

"The _objective_ is simple. The first part of the plan is for you to find a buddy of mine. He goes by the name of Derek Oswald. You'll learn tracking skills and proper stealth techniques by doing this, because, as you'd expect, those militias won't be too happy having foreign uniformed soldiers in their land. The second part is that you will do any jobs my buddy tells you to do. Is that clear?"

"Crystal," Furuichi replied with a sarcastic smile.

"Everything else has already been said. This may seem extreme, but I'm a firm believer in experience outweighing everything. Down there, that is a war, and from what your _Lieutenant's_ briefed me on, that is a war you will face. People who look like each other, live with each other, and know that fighting each other doesn't help a damn anyone. But they _still_ do it," Duran said. "Now get ready to paradrop."

Furuichi shouldered the parachute he was given. Behind him, his squad pulled and adjusted their packs with such efficiency that you'd think they were human trained rather than Devil trained. That naturally put a damper on him, and forced him to operate at a higher level of crisp and alertness. Furuichi felt like his brain was going to fry with all his worries.

The plane's pilot loudly counted down until they reached directly above their target zone. Furuichi braced himself by the door, and when the final number dropped, he too came spiralling down from the helicopter.

The wind whipped at his face, and despite the fear gnawing at the back his spine, Furuichi was able to feel a thrill at the sensation of freefall. It seems he was turning into his own brand of thrill seeker, because Furuichi was sure before he would have scared pissless. Getting drunk on power changed his perception of danger, but not by too much, Furuichi hoped.

He couldn't see or hear the rest of his unit, and that was a problem. For one thing, he didn't know when or how he should open up his parachute. Just as the usual panicTM was settling in over him, his soul began instinctively acting. It pulled on the well of knowledge inside the patch of his soul that was a werewolf.

Knowledge on paradropping, as well as other more intricate details of performing a landing in hostile territory, came to life in Furuichi's mind. With the gain of new information, Furuichi reached into his back and released his parachute.

The feeling of the strap digging painfully into his skin gave a sense of nostalgia - a familiarity that was neither here or there. His feet dangled in the air, and Furuichi breathed in a deep sigh when his feet touched the ground without any incident - and there it was, _the flag._

Loud gunfire began echoing to his right, and Furuichi turned, staring into the forest as dust kicked up all around him. There were soldiers about fifty feet to his right, all firing their weapons into the sky at his squad. A part of Furuichi wanted to duck and cover into the forests, but another part of Furuichi - a fiercer part he didn't know he had - knew that by doing that he would be derelict in his duty to his men.

Just like that all the doubts he had disappeared, and Furuichi stood to his full height. He was wearing the suppression band that Lamia had provided him, so he was effectively the same old Furuichi he had been before the Pillars, back when he was Oga's only friend. It was a blast in the past, a nostalgic travel to him, but symbolic in a way. He had been returned to his base, before he got his power, before he became more than just Furuichi, but now he had a semblance of power to himself.

The same, but new, like a Phoenix rejuvenating after shedding it's old skin.

Furuichi glanced down at his gun; he wasn't familiar with it, nor did he trust it with the state that it was in. Even though it would be more dangerous, Furuichi was forced to shoulder the rifle on his back and take out his blade, **Aegeus.** Ironically, the only weapon he could trust in the middle of a modern civil war was a sword.

He dashed into the tree line, and what little knowledge he was aware of for jungle combat sprang to mind. No, it would be better said that what he knew of _hunting_ in the forests were pushed to the forefront of his thoughts. It seems the werewolf side of him was being extra generous today.

The trees and tall grass seemed abundant in this area, and they allowed him to snake across past the road and behind the gunmen quickly and easily. The Lieutenant didn't dare focus his attention anywhere else but on his prey, and jumped forward, eyes flashing under the sun as they gleamed with the intent to kill.

Furuichi reached forward and wrapped his arm around the burly militiaman. For all intents and purposes he should have been stronger than Furuichi - _should_ have been able to completely flatten the diminutive Lieutenant - but Furuichi was never one for brute strength. When the militia man gripped Furuichi's arm and tried to pull the Lieutenant over his shoulder, Furuichi did not resist.

Instead he rolled with it, his sword glinting under the sun, and when Furuichi finished his arc, the militia man had been the cause of his own death, as the blade had sliced through the man's spine and straight through his throat; and Furuichi didn't even have to adjust his arm.

The Lieutenant landed on his feet and clicked his tongue when the second target turned to meet him. He twirled and tossed the blade, and with extreme luck, the blow connected, catching the man on his bicep.

He roared and pointed his weapon to the sky as he flailed helplessly at the blade digging into his arm. Not wanting to waste time, Furuichi darted forward and gripped the handle of his sword, and with an exhale of breath, yanked it downwards. He sliced through the chunk of flesh, rending that arm completely useless, and sliced sideways, cutting the man across his neck.

The militia man slumped to the ground gripping his throat, blood dripping down onto the ground. Furuichi turned away. Like at the Peace Conference, he didn't feel anything when he killed these men. Then, it was because he was drunk with power, because the magic casters were so insignificant that they couldn't matter in Furuichi's eyes, here it was because he had a job to do, and he had people counting on him to do i-

"Furuichi!" The Lieutenant only had a moment to respond to the shrill cry before a certain small pinkette crashed over his head. His moment of 'cool anime protagonist evaluation' was shattered by being face planted into an ant hill. Sputtering indignity and disgust, Furuichi pushed Lamia off him and spit out the ants that crawled into his mouth.

"Agh! Why?! I was having a moment goddamnit!" Furuichi cried.

Lamia sweatdropped, an apologetic look on her face as she dusted herself off. "Sorry."

"You better be," Furuichi said while coughing.

"Lieutenant!" Kattia said as she landed in a roll - a very cool roll, Furuichi had to admit. "The shooting would have attracted the attention of rogue elements. We'll need to get on the move."

"Right," Furuichi said. "Where's Derek Oswald located in?" The rest of the squad dropped in behind Kattia, and Erwin, the second-in-command - or third depending on your view - pulled out a map and a gps from his pocket.

"West, Lieutenant. We'll have to cross a swamp like area to reach the shanty town that Derek Oswald is located in," Erwin said. He hesitated for a moment, before saying out loud. "There's an outpost in the way, and the area is frequently patrolled, or so says the intel we were given."

Furuichi spat out a gob of crushed ant and slipped his sword back into his sleeve. "Then we move away from them as best we can." Furuichi wasn't acting right there. Now that he was in the thick of it, facing the enemy in the middle of a war zone, everything just fell into place. There was no need to act; he just had to act like regular old Furuichi; as in, the one that was always struggling to stay alive. "Avoiding them is key, our guns aren't exactly trustworthy and we have limited ammunition for them."

"Of course Lieutenant," Kattia agreed as she fiddled with her rifle. "I don't have much experience with firearms either."

"Heh, amateurs," Lamia said as she polished her handgun. Frank Vaults loudly clicked the slide of his gun, and Lamia raised an eyebrow at his obvious provocation.

"Settle down," Furuichi said, the tone coming out harsher than he intended thanks to the sand in his throat. Frank tensed and quickly bowed his head in apology. Furuichi thought the reaction was exaggerated but kept his peace as he turned to the setting sun. "We've burned through most of our daylight. Seems like we'd be working through the night."

"No rest for the wicked," Danica said with a bright smile, toothy and white. Furuichi smiled at her infectious enthusiasm.

"We push ahead; long and as hard as we can. I want Oswald with us by the time the day ends."

o0o0 **Furuichi's Demonic Adventure** o0o0

Lamia wasn't sure what she expected from the moment Furuichi said, "We push ahead", but she should have guessed. He only seemed to react to any situation in one given formula, that is to run and hide; and that was exactly what he did. Furuichi jumped into the forest without preamble, to the surprise of the squad even, and they quickly went to follow after him, Lamia all the while clicking in distaste at the jungle setting

"Why are we sneaking around? We can easily take these humans out, no problem," Danica said as she followed after the Lieutenant. Lamia wasn't surprised by her behaviour. Furuichi had been ignoring his squad since he got them, only arriving to give the general meetings the gift of his presence, not at all providing his own input as he relied on Kattia and her to do most of the talking. So while Furuichi probably didn't realise Danica's own grievance with what they were doing, Lamia did.

The woman was more of a frontline fighter - battle-horny, as Furuichi liked to use the term. She relished in challenges, big or small. She had at one point spent three days studying math without sleep in order to pass a basic entrance exam into Kuoh Academy, and the _only_ reason why was because Frank had boasted to her about scoring a seventy-three. She made challenges on her own, and the sight of her Lieutenant taking the cowardly approach probably irked her more than she wanted to admit within present company. At the very least, Lamia could see the disappointment on her face.

"No, we can't," Kattia said sternly. "We have limiters that put us on the same basic level as the humans. We'd be dead if we tried anything."

Erwin also shrugged his shoulders from where he was standing next to Kattia. The Lance Corporal kept his eyes leveled on the treeline, narrowing his eyes in such a way that they were almost slits. "Either way we should stay focus. We are on the enemy's home field. They have the advantage of terrain that we don't have."

"You're telling me," Tania remarked as she swiped at a low branch. "I'm a city born Devil. I've never been in the forests my entire life!" She squawked in dismay when she found a mosquito on her arm, and promptly moved to crush it, but because of her now human reflexes, the bug managed to get away with her precious blood.

Lamia was fine with letting the mosquito go though. Demonic blood would be far too toxic for it to last long, and more than likely it would burn up and die within a few seconds. Even so, the pinkette hoped nothing dangerous happened that would require her medical expertise throughout this 'training' exercise. Really, what kind of training was it to drop recruits into the middle of a battlezone! Her feelings on the subject was only compounded with how readily Furuichi accepted the ludicrous mission. The past Furuichi would have balked and tried to do everything in his power to not be here; out in some african hell hole where big burly men were trying to kill each other for who knows what reasons. He _left_ Ishiyama only to enter another one? He would have railed against the idea. This wasn't how that Furuichi worked.

She grumbled beneath her breath, slapping a mosquito away from her face. She was close to the age of fifteen now, by human years, that was. She'd spent some time in a time dilation field with Dr Forcas to train herself in surgery, before she met Oga and Furuichi, and as such she had to wait a few months before her biological body caught up with her mental age. Which had been her growth spurt, for the most part, but Lamia would rather much prefer her smaller frame right now, if only to provide a smaller surface area for the mosquitoes to land on without her realising.

"Enemy units, west side, ten men, assault rifles," Frank said quietly, at a whisper even, but it still seemed to reach Lamia regardless. Kattia called for the squad to stop, and Lamia dropped to her knee, feeling only a little apprehension about her knee length sock getting mucked up by the dirt. It wasn't just about fashion, it was about cleanliness. She only had a few sets of fresh clothes; and that was because she had expected to be sitting _out_ on the training, not _participating_.

"I see them," Erwin said as his eyes, somehow, narrowed further. Erwin was from a line of Devils that had superb eyesight. His family had once been retainers to the Caim family - before their extinction - and as such had been the vanguard of the Devil army. Their members were blessed with superb eyesight, and thus, Erwin was the best as a support and strategic officer in the squad. "Even spread between them. They seem to be a patrol following a set path."

"I say we engage them," Danica said, punching her fists together. "The more we take down, the less we have to deal with. It's the perfect solution for us, who have the disadvantage of lesser numbers. Take out as many as we can as quietly as we can."

Lamia agreed with her. If they could entirely eliminate the enemy without alerting all of them at once, then they would have served their cake with a ten thousand dollar tray. Duran's friend would be just fine at the end of that, and he can do whatever he wanted to do in the first place without interruption thanks to the entire place being free of enemies. And Lamia can go home - a win-win.

"What do you think, Lieutenant...Where's the Lieutenant?" Kattia asked. The entire squad turned their heads to either sides of themselves, surprise lighting up their features as they realised that Furuichi had disappeared on them. Lamia, worried that maybe he had abandoned them and the mission, tensed her shoulders and was prepared to call Alaindelon to carry that piece of trash back, when Frank made a sharp intake of breath.

"Forward, one hundred metres," he said. Lamia blinked, and squinted her eyes through the haze of the saharan heat to notice something darting through the trees. To her surprise, and amazement, it was Furuichi and he was practically dancing through the trees, dodging in and out of cover to stay out of the patrol's line of sight. Looking at him, she thought she was seeing her old Furuichi inside that man. The man that would run from conflict, skillfully extracting himself from the sight and ire of whoever it was that was hunting him down. The difference between them, however, was too blatant to ignore.

While that Furuichi hid, ran, and did nothing else, this Furuichi used his skills in running away to aggressively attack the enemy. She could see it as plain as day. Furuichi wasn't moving away from the patrol, he was moving towards them. Like a shadow. He seemed to blend into the forest at times, and Lamia had a hard time tracking his movements. More than once she had lost him completely, and only saw him again after a while, and a part of her thought that Furuichi was letting her see him.

"I-I can't keep track of him!" Erwin said as he craned his neck further forward. "He's moving too fast, and...agh! I lost him again!" The idea of Erwin, the one with the best eyes inside the entire squad, to not be able to follow Furuichi was mind boggling, especially when factoring in his heritage.

Even Danica seemed excited as she pushed herself forward, planting her hands on the ground in anticipation as she stared past the distance. "What is he doing?" She asked, and by the grin on her face, Lamia knew the woman was hoping the Lieutenant was about to engage the enemy, so that she could see just how powerful her new Officer was.

Lamia noticed how Kattia was concentrating on Furuichi and, after a moment, looked towards Tania. "He's saying something to himself. Tania can you listen in?" The specialisation of Signal Operator was something relatively important in the Devil Army of old. In fact, it had been assimilated into the European Devils through Makai. Signal Operators were basically messengers, taking orders from commanders and dispensing them throughout the entire army or cohort. The way they did this was by vibrating their Demonic Energy with that of the air, sending these vibrations towards specific locations to be received and interpreted by other Signal Operators. They controlled air, basically.

Tania was able to manipulate this ability by catching the vibrations formed by Furuichi speaking to himself. Of course, words can get distorted in this non-direct manner, but it was still an option for Signal Operators and it was a skill Lamia had always figured to be a very good one to have. So the diminutive SO nodded her head and closed her eyes. Lamia, with her acute doctor's experience, could feel miniscule sparks of Demonic Energy the little SO was using in order to interact with the air. Each was quick and violent, with enough energy for a high powers Demonic Bullet, but small. The air shook around them, and Lamia thought it was harder to breath.

Before long, Tania opened her eyes. "It's all a jumbled mess, but I think he's saying 'First priority; squad safety. Second priority; target safety. Third priority; enemy combatants."

"That means he is going to attack them right?" Danica asked. "'Protect the squad'; eliminate the threats right?"

"Not always," Frank cut in. He pointed his finger out into the open towards Furuichi. "Look." And Lamia did look. She looked as Furuichi paused just out of sight from the patrol and began to creep forward. She watched as he waited, and listened, and then rolled past the patrol into a conjoint tree line that led back towards the squad, and away from the patrol. Furuichi had actively sought after a possible location for problematic encounter, and didn't attack them at all, nor did he just outright ran away.

Honestly, Lamia couldn't act surprise. Nor would she ever. She knew already, that her Furuichi had changed, and maybe it was for the better. But the changes were so blatant, the Doctor inside her was worried.

"Well, where is he now?" Tania asked with some annoyance, her irritation at the disappearing act Furuichi had starting to show herself. Lamia was about to open her mouth and add in her own snide remark, probably about Furuichi's habits on peeking at girls, when the Lieutenant voice was heard behind her.

"I'm right here," Furuichi's voice said. Danica, who had been on all fours, jumped almost five feet off the ground at the sudden sound of his voice. The woman balked when she was in the air, and quickly landed on her feet before she could further embarrass herself. Even Lamia, as used to surprises as she was, had to hold her own heart in surprise.

"OK team; I heard from those guys that there's a radio tower nearby that can be taken down to remove communications from them," Furuichi said. "I think that's our best bet in making this whole mission easier for us."

"Eliminate their main method of communication?" Kattia muttered in surprise. "Take away their ability to coordinate an effective attack or defence on us. Genius."

Lamia knew Furuichi well enough to know that he breaking out into a cold sweat at the word 'genius' being used to elevate him even higher in his squad's eyes. Even so, Lamia could no deny how smart the idea was. Furuichi always had a keen sense of capitalising advantages over disadvantages, and was smarter than he gave himself credit for.

"Exactly," Furuichi said, and smiled his boyish smile. Lamia felt her heart skip a beat. Maybe it had been the fiasco of the memory transfer, or maybe it had been her own developing feelings for Furuichi - what with her life or death experiences with the Ishiyama student tying the two of them together with a bond - but Lamia had come to noticing Furuichi's own set of charms. HIs small shining lights of brilliance, his burning loyalty, or even his small, honest moments; these moments were probably what endeared the young Lieutenant to Lamia in recent memory.

It only took bare moments for Lamia to realise she had thought of Furuichi was the young _Lieutenant_ rather than Furuichi. Lamia shook her head. Let Xenovia see Furuichi as that, as the budding soldier still able to feel love, but let her see Furuichi as the friend she had grown to accept him as. No, Furuichi was Furuichi, no matter what uniform he wore.

"But, we are _so_ much better than them, if we just take off the band's!" Danica whined. Furuichi snapped to her, an expression so much like her Furuichi, yet somehow unknown, seemingly taking over his features.

"No," Furuichi said firmly. A tangible steel behind those words. "You heard the briefing, you heard my explanation. You need to learn what it means to be weak. You need to learn how to be stronger, by being weaker."

Lamia had, of late, been cold to Furuichi for reasons she herself was unsure of, however, she understood what Furuichi was trying to do for his squad, and she approved. So many Devils nowadays were too high on their own power; not least of which could be seen in the Pillars. Many of the members - before Oga and the Ishiyama students had effectively thrashed them - were too eager and battle hungry for war. Now though, they've humbled themselves to the strength of the weak and instead immersed in themselves an acceptance of individual strength meant to push the whole.

In other words, they became an effective fighting force. As an intellectual, and a growing woman, Lamia was able to see the positive effect Oga's presence had on the Pillars. Compounded only by the further influence Furuichi's induction into the PIllars had been. The young man not only further accelerated the growth of some of the members, but he increased the organization's notoriety in the greater Underworld society.

She made a humming noise of agreement to Furuichi's words, and the strong pressure caused by Lamia's involvement - a renowned and respected noble's daughter - and Furuichi - who held the respect of his squad and was regarded as a larger than life figure - caused Danica to duck her head meekly with a squeak.

Both Kattia and Erwin tensed, worried about their teammate and wondering if they would be needed to jump in to defend the safety of their subordinate if the Lieutenant would dismiss Danica from the squad for disappointing him. Lamia winced. Despite their hero worship of Furuichi, the members of Furuchi's squad seemed to think of him as something of a grizzled veteran, expecting only the best and loyal into his unit.

They couldn't have been further from the truth though.

Furuichi blinked his eyes in surprise, and his expression of surprised disappeared to sheepish apprehension; needless to say that only scared Danica further. "Listen, there's no need to be worried. We're not here to fight a war; only do as we need to, and _learn_. Now, we move out, and hopefully we'd have a few moments of rest soon."

Furuichi then stood up, and without a glance back trudged through the forest again. He only took four steps, just normal average strides, and he disappeared into the foliage, no sign or track displaying that he was there in the first place.

"That...is scary," Frank said, staring at the forest ground. There weren't even boot marks.

Lamia would have agreed, but had she knew that in any other case, this scary skill would have been used to instead spy on women. And in a way, that too was scary, but for wholly different reasons.

 **I think this arc will be about five chapters long. Since this is as much about the squad now as Furuichi, I'll be developing the squads personality a bit more. Also ill jump to Lamia PoV quite a bit in this arc. I wont make a habit if it I want to keep this fic Furuichi story explicitly, but I figured lamia was probably the best option to pov shift without any real effect on the tone.**

 **Also sorry. I've been...eh, out of it. I got D+ for an exam, and, you know, life is depressing at times. I'll try to get back to my one chapter a week schedule I had going on when I first started this fic. But, its getting harder to maintain, especially when I keep coming up with new stories.**

 **Anyways. What did you guys think?**


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